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Capstone Semester
Fall 2023
Date of Graduation
12-15-2023
Abstract
Wellness curriculum was introduced at James Madison University’s PA program in 2019. The intervention is student-led by upperclassmen and is two-part, consisting of wellness seminars and peer group discussions with a heavy emphasis on wellbeing, stress reduction, coping strategies and burnout. The aim of seminars and student-led discussions have been to promote mental health awareness and mindfulness practices, so that students experience lower perceived stress and greater life satisfaction. Perceived stress has not been examined among physician assistant students using the Perceived Medical School Stress (PMSS) scale which measures students’ perception of stress over four areas: medical school curriculum and environment, personal competence and endurance, social and recreation life, and finances. PMSS outcomes can be categorized by scores going from high to low (adaptors), low to high (maladaptors), low to low (resistors), or high to high (persistors). Maladaptive responses to stress has been correlated with greater emotional distress and burnout as compared to adaptive responses, which were suggested to provide a greater benefit to academic success and the development of resiliency skills
Document Type
Capstone
Recommended Citation
Worthley, A., Sharp, A. Measuring Perceived Medical School Stress (PMSS) scores among physician assistant students. 2023
