Evaluation of a Pilot Wellness Elective for Master of Public Health Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials
2.1. Course Description
2.2. Study Design and Data Collection
2.3. Pre-Post Wellbeing Strategies and Outcomes Surveys
2.4. Baseline Student Wellness, Pre- and Post-COVID
2.5. Course Evaluations and Projects
2.6. Five-Month Post-Course Follow Up
2.7. Analysis
3. Results
3.1. Participants
3.2. Pre-Post Course Strategies and Wellbeing Surveys
3.3. Course Evaluations and Student Projects
3.3.1. Course Evaluations
3.3.2. Student Projects: Personal Health Improvement Plan and Team Project
3.4. Baseline Comparison of 2019 and 2020 Pre-Course Survey Wellbeing Outcomes
3.4.1. Burnout
3.4.2. Quality of Life
3.4.3. Mindfulness
3.4.4. Perceived Stress
3.5. Five-Month Post-Course Follow Up
Key Quotes from 5-Month Post-Course Survey
4. Discussion
4.1. Summary of Results
4.2. Results in Context
4.3. Limitations
4.4. Implications for Research and Clinical Practice
5. Conclusions
Supplementary Materials
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Learning Objectives | Assessments |
---|---|
Compare and contrast “health” and “wellness” within the context of personal and population health | Pre-Class Reflections |
Discuss the importance of wellbeing and the impact of burnout on individuals and communities | Class Discussion and Participation |
Utilize an improvement process to discuss factors that threaten personal and collective wellbeing | Class Discussion and Participation |
Apply evidence-based wellness strategies to construct a Personal Health Improvement Plan (PHIP) | Personal Health Improvement Project |
Demonstrate leadership and team skills to propose a community-based Culture of Wellness Plan | Culture of Wellness Team Project |
Question | Scale | % of Responses |
---|---|---|
“How important are the wellbeing strategies learned in PH104 to your personal wellness currently?” | Not at all | 0 |
Somewhat | 28.6 | |
Moderately | 28.6 | |
Very | 28.6 | |
Extremely | 14.3 | |
“How confident are you in your ability to apply the wellbeing strategies learned in PH104?” | Not at all | 0 |
Somewhat | 14.3 | |
Moderately | 21.4 | |
Very | 50 | |
Extremely | 14.3 | |
“Over the last 5 months, how frequently have you applied the strategies learned in PH104?” | Not at all | 0 |
Monthly | 21.4 | |
Weekly | 57.1 | |
Daily | 14.3 | |
More than once a day | 7.1 |
Strategies | % Change | p-Value |
---|---|---|
Narrative writing | 54.5 | 0.004 * |
Leading change | 42.9 | 0.0001 * |
Cognitive reframing | 35.5 | 0.002 * |
Mindfulness | 32.4 | 0.009 * |
Appreciative inquiry | 32.4 | 0.003 * |
Self-reflection | 30.6 | 0.002 * |
Time management | 25.8 | 0.005 * |
Prioritizing purpose | 20.5 | 0.01 * |
Resilience | 15.8 | 0.002 * |
Relationships | 13.5 | 0.05 * |
Healthy eating | 4.88 | 0.3 |
Emotional intelligence | 4.88 | 0.2 |
Exercise | −2.2 | 0.4 |
Wellbeing Outcome | % Change | p-Value |
---|---|---|
Burnout | ||
Over the last month, to what degree have you felt burned out? | −19.4 | 0.01 * |
Quality of Life | ||
Emotional wellbeing | 28.3 | 0.007 * |
Physical wellbeing | 17.9 | 0.006 * |
Level of social activity | 14.8 | 0.2 |
Mental wellbeing | 14.5 | 0.04 * |
Spiritual wellbeing | 12.3 | 0.1 |
Quality of life (overall) | 5.26 | 0.2 |
Mindfulness | ||
Feeling present or in the moment | 19.4 | 0.003 * |
Perceived Stress | ||
Difficulties piling up | −25.9 | 0.005 * |
Unable to control important things in your life | −12.1 | 0.08 |
Felt that things were going your way | 9.09 | 0.1 |
Able to handle personal problems | 0 | 0.5 |
Quality of Life Questions | 2019 Mean (n = 54) | 2020 Mean (n = 20) | % Change | p-Value |
---|---|---|---|---|
Your overall quality of life? | 8.83 | 7.74 | −12.3 | 0.12 |
Your overall mental (intellectual) wellbeing? | 6.00 | 7.26 | 21 | 0.07 |
Your overall physical wellbeing? | 7.71 | 7.53 | −2.33 | 0.06 |
Your overall emotional wellbeing? | 6.00 | 6.79 | 13.2 | 0.08 |
Your level of social activity? | 6.00 | 6.32 | 5.3 | 0.03 * |
Your spiritual wellbeing? | 6.75 | 6.63 | −1.8 | 0.09 |
Mindfulness Scale | 2019 (N = 54) Percentage of Responses | 2020 (N = 19) Percentage of Responses | % Change | p-Value |
---|---|---|---|---|
Not at all | 17 | 0 | −100 | 0.03 * |
Minimally | 22 | 37 | 68.2 | 0.09 |
Somewhat | 46 | 42 | −8.7 | 0.38 |
Mostly | 11 | 21 | 90.9 | 0.14 |
Completely | 4 | 0 | −100 | 0.19 |
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© 2024 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Share and Cite
O’Malley, B.Y.; Etoundi-Ngono, E.; Hua, J.; Nano, J.P.; Pipas, C.F. Evaluation of a Pilot Wellness Elective for Master of Public Health Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2024, 21, 590. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph21050590
O’Malley BY, Etoundi-Ngono E, Hua J, Nano JP, Pipas CF. Evaluation of a Pilot Wellness Elective for Master of Public Health Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2024; 21(5):590. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph21050590
Chicago/Turabian StyleO’Malley, Blaise Y., Edgard Etoundi-Ngono, Jianjun Hua, Joseph P. Nano, and Catherine F. Pipas. 2024. "Evaluation of a Pilot Wellness Elective for Master of Public Health Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 21, no. 5: 590. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph21050590