Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Associations Between Daily Wellness Behaviors And Outcomes Among Medical Students, Ankrish Milne, Alexandra Novelli, Carly Watson, Hakeem Yousef, William Copeland, Leigh Ann Holterman, Lee Rosen, Yang Bai, Azilee Curl, Samuel Pasqualoni, Stephen Kirby, Xixi Halvorson-Phelan, James Hudziak

Larner College of Medicine Fourth Year Advanced Integration Teaching/Scholarly Projects

Objective: Explore which wellness behaviors have the greatest impact on wellbeing outcomes in medical students.

Methods: A total of 213 medical students were enrolled in this study between June and September 2021. Participants completed a battery of online surveys, including demographic information, and 60-second nightly surveys on the WE-MD smartphone app, which assessed wellness-related indicators (exercise duration, sleep quality, nutrition quality, etc.) and wellbeing outcomes (mood, focus, stress, etc.).

Results: 116 participants completed >50% of nightly surveys between September 2021 and November 2021 and were included in the analysis. All wellness indicators were significantly associated with at least one wellness …

Stress Management & Resiliency Training (Smart) For Nursing Students, Lili Martin, Msn, Rn, Pccn, Dnp(C), Marcia Bosek, Dnsc, Laura Foran-Lewis, Ph.D, Rn

College of Nursing and Health Sciences Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Project Publications

Background: Baccalaureate nursing students report high levels of stress and anxiety. Chronic stress in nursing students is on the rise and can increase the risk for suicide, depression, burnout, and increased academic attrition.

Objectives: The purpose of this EBP/QI project was to establish baseline stress and anxiety levels for senior baccalaureate nursing students and to evaluate the effectiveness of implementing the Benson Henry Institute (BHI) SMART program with nursing students.

Methods: Senior nursing students (n=32) self-selected into either the control or SMART group. The SMART group participated in 8 weekly 1.5 hour SMART sessions during the fall, 2020 semester. All …

Mindfulness: An Underutilized Tool For Patients And Providers Alike, Candice Wolf

Family Medicine Clerkship Student Projects

A healthy body begins with a healthy mind, and a healthy mind begins with mindfulness. Mindfulness means paying attention on purpose and without judgment. It has been shown to reduce: anxiety, blood pressure, gastrointestinal distress symptoms, PTSD, pain, insomnia, depression, and healthcare cost. 63% of American’s are stressed about the future of the nation, money, work, the political climate, violence, and crime. Primary care providers have the opportunity to introduce patients to mindfulness to compliment and/or potentially replace current alternative pharmacologic options.

Incontinence And Pelvic Floor Pt In The Primary Care Setting, Nikolas A. Moring

Family Medicine Clerkship Student Projects

Stress incontinence and overactive bladder are two causes of decreased quality of life in the general population. Many patients report a long latency between the onset of symptoms of incontinence and identification and treatment. This project aimed to provide educational materials to both providers and patients about incontinence to help better identify patients who may benefit from pelvic floor physical therapy. Pelvic floor physical therapy has been demonstrated as a safe, non-pharmacological intervention for stress incontinence which may be overlooked in the primary care setting.

Mindfulness As An Effective Strategy For Anxiety Relief In Adolescent Patients, Desiree N. Dibella

Family Medicine Clerkship Student Projects

Anxiety disorders affect 6.8 million adults over the age of 18 in the United States, and anxiety disorders are the most common mental health illness in children.

Risk Factors for anxiety disorders in young adults include the following: -Shyness, or behavioral inhibition, in childhood -Being of the female sex -Having few economic resources -Exposure to stressful life events in childhood -Anxiety disorders in close biological relatives -Parental history of mental disorders -Elevated afternoon cortisol levels in the saliva Teens and young adults increasingly suffer from anxiety disorders with the CDC reporting the rate of anxiety disorders among 3 to 17 …

Rural Teens And Stress, Morgan R. Pratt

Family Medicine Clerkship Student Projects

Stress is significantly associated with risk taking behavior and increasing depression/anxiety among teens. There is no shortage of stressors experienced within the teenage years.This project's aim is to create a pamphlet that can be available for teens in rural Vermont. It will contain apps for healthy lifestyle, stress, mood, mindfulness as well as local help line numbers for teens in crisis and signs and symptoms of anxiety and depression.

Chronic Stress Potentiates The Response To Intra-Bed Nucleus Of The Stria Terminalis (Bnst) Pituitary Adenylate Cyclase Activating Peptide (Pacap) Infusion., Steven Bradley King

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Chronic or repeated exposure to stressful stimuli can result in several maladaptive consequences, including increased anxiety-like behaviors and altered peptide expression in brain structures involved in emotion. Among these structures, the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) has been implicated in emotional behaviors as well as regulation of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activity. In rodents, chronic variate stress (CVS) has been shown to increase BNST pituitary adenylate cyclase activating polypeptide (PACAP) and its cognate PAC1 receptor transcript, and BNST PACAP signaling may mediate the maladaptive changes associated with chronic stress. In order to determine whether chronic stress would potentiate the …

Glycogen Synthase Kinase-3Β: An Investigation Of The Novel Serine 389 Phosphorylation Site, Brendan Deegan Hare

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Stress associated psychiatric disorders such as depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder affect a large proportion of the population. Reductions in the complexity of neuronal morphology and reduced neurogenesis are commonly observed outcomes following stress exposure in rodent models and may represent a mechanism for the reduced brain volume in stress sensitive regions such as the hippocampus observed in individuals diagnosed with stress associated disorders. Multiple lines of evidence suggest that glycogen synthase kinase (GSK)-B may play a role in the neurodegenerative phenotype observed following stress exposure. GSK3B is atypical in that it is inhibited by phosphorylation. This inhibitory phosphorylation …

School Based Yoga Intervention For Childhood Stress Management, Erica Marden

Family Medicine Clerkship Student Projects

Childhood stress can have immediate and long-term negative impacts on physical health, mental health, school performance, self-esteem, and relationships. For children in rural communities there are fewer resources available as recreational and therapeutic outlets for healthy stress reduction. Extracurricular activity involvement also puts significant financial and time burdens on families. There is a particular need to provide children in rural areas with tools to manage stress that can be incorporated into the school day and require few resources. Yoga is an excellent school-based activity that has proven benefits on physical and emotional health for both students and teachers. It has …