How to strengthen basic competencies in self-care – a pre-post interventional study with postgraduate trainees in family medicine in Germany

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Self-care includes taking care of our psychosocial health. Many experts agree that self-care should be included in training for Family Medicine (FM) residents, though it is unclear to what extent and by what means. Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate competencies of FM residents in self-care and changes in knowledge, skills and attitudes after an educational compact intervention.

Methods: The authors performed a pre-post comparison on residents who were registered in the FM residency program KWBW VerbundweiterbildungPLUS© (n = 401). FM residents were offered participation in a self-care training (270 minutes featuring a broad spectrum of input and practical experience). The intervention group (IG) completed a questionnaire directly before the seminar (T1) and 10 weeks afterwards (T2). Non-attendees (=control group; CG) were asked to fill out a basic questionnaire once. Basic questionnaires for IG and CG covered previous experiences and skills while the follow-up questionnaire at T2 also focused on change of competencies and attitudes. All questionnaires contained free-text questions to capture qualitative impressions.

Results: 287 FM residents (IG: n = 212; CG: n = 75) participated in the study. Generally, 86.4% of FM residents had worried that their profession might endanger their personal health (T1: n = 180, CG: n = 68). At T2, 59.5% of IG (n = 66/111) declared that they would not worry about their personal health anymore (T1:T2, p < .01). IG learned to facilitate time for recreation (T1:T2, p = .04) and to use relaxation techniques (T1:T2, p = .01). Gain in competence was described in awareness of stress, self-reward, activation of personal resources, and time management. A total of 85.6% of IG reflected their attitudes towards psychosocial health of physicians in general (n = 95/111) and 22.5% of IG changed the views on their own health (n = 25/111) in terms of improved risk-awareness, increased intention for self-care and change of behavior.

Conclusion: A compact intervention in self-care strengthens competencies, increases awareness, and helps FM residents identify their psychosocial health risks. Further research is necessary to specify the effectiveness of similar compact interventions in self-care and their long-term results.

KEYWORDS:

• Self-care
• well-being
• residency
• postgraduate medical education
• family medicine
• compact intervention

Acknowledgments

None stated.

Declaration of interest

SS, JV and JS were involved in the organization of the training program. TJB was involved as a lecturer in the training. All authors declare no further competing interests.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.

Additional information

Funding

TJB was funded by the Physician Scientist Programme of Heidelberg Faculty of Medicine.Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.