| dc.description.abstract | Medical doctors and medical students experience increased prevalence of depression, anxiety, suicidality, suicide, stress, and burnout when compared to the general public. Along with suffering from increased rates of psychosocial distress, medical students and medical doctors often do not seek medical help for their mental health symptoms and are left to suffer in silence. Nurse practitioner students face similar challenges as medical students, yet the literature has not explored the mental health status and needs of nurse practitioner students. Healthcare providers may feel unable to seek help for mental health conditions due to fear of losing their license or fear their professional reputation could be damaged, compounding the problem. The concept of building personal resilience in healthcare providers has emerged as a possible way to combat poor mental health and burnout in healthcare providers. Healthcare providers who are more resilient are less likely to suffer from poor mental health outcomes. The purpose of the project was to evaluate if nurse practitioner students suffer from poor mental health during their time in graduate education and if resiliency scores predict psychological well-being. Survey questions about help-seeking behaviors and validated surveys for depression, anxiety, suicidality, stress, burnout, and resiliency were administered to first, second, and third-year students before the start of fall semester 2017, and again near the end of fall semester 2017. Thirty-seven students completed the baseline assessment and 33 completed follow-up surveys. Depression and burnout scores increased significantly from baseline to follow-up, while other measures did not change significantly. Resiliency scores appeared to negatively correlate with depression, anxiety, and stress scores at baseline assessment. At baseline, no students endorsed high-risk suicidal behaviors, and at follow-up, three students (9%) scored high risk. At follow-up, 15% of the sample met criteria for moderate to severe depression and 21% met criteria for moderate to severe anxiety, both of which would benefit from medical interventions. Study findings highlight the significant mental health challenges nurse practitioner students face during their education. Academic programs should recognize these difficulties and implement interventions to support student well-being during the academic training period. | en_US |
