Trial to Evaluate the Efficacy of a Manualized Reflective Writing Program for Clinical Phase Physician Assistant (PA) Students.

Open-label Controlled Trial to Evaluate the Efficacy of a Manualized Reflective Writing Program for Clinical Phase PA Students.

The following will be an open label controlled efficacy trial of the effects of longitudinal participation in an existing reflective writing program for medical students on burnout in physician assistant students.

Study Overview

• Status: Withdrawn
• Conditions: Burn Out; Student Burnout; Physician Assistant Student Burnout
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Reflective Writing Workshop Sessions

Detailed Description

The pilot of the reflective writing workshop for PA students will follow the existing curriculum used for the MD program. The workshops will run for 75 minutes with additional time at the end of the session to complete a post-intervention assessment survey. Planning and adaptation of the program materials will be conducted by a group of PA students and the current MD-student leaders of the reflective writing program under the guidance of Dr. Anna Reisman.

All PA student participants will be split up into 1-2 groups of 6-10 students based on the number of participants. Sessions are expected to be held in-person pending COVID-19 guidance and will be held in reserved classroom space in the PA program building (100 Church Street South) or in reserved conference rooms at the Cushing-Whitney Medical Library. Trained PA and/or MD student facilitators will then use prepared materials to guide each group through a series of prompts, each eliciting written reflections of varying lengths. While all participants are encouraged to reflect, write, and share their responses, participation at all levels remains optional. Facilitators will not solicit any participants for a response. All program participants will be asked to complete a brief post-assessment survey consisting of short-answer and Likert scale questions about their attitudes towards program participation. Responses collected will be used to assess the feasibility and acceptability of the program for PA students and as feedback to guide potential future implementation of the program.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Connecticut
    • New Haven, Connecticut, United States, 06520
      • Yale University

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• able to offer consent
• able to speak and read English.
• must be a student in Yale Physician Associate Program Class of 2024

Exclusion Criteria:

-

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
• Allocation: Non-Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
No Intervention: Control; No intervention
Experimental: Reflective Writing Workshop Sessions (RWW); Participants will participate in three 75-minute RWW sessions scheduled to take place after students finish their 1st, 3rd, and 5th clinical rotations during the study period. reflective writing workshops	Behavioral: Reflective Writing Workshop Sessions; Three workshops of 75 minutes. Trained PA and/or MD student facilitators will then use prepared materials to guide each group through a series of prompts, each eliciting written reflections of varying lengths. While all participants are encouraged to reflect, write, and share their responses, participation at all levels remains optional.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in total burnout score over time as measured by the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI)	The Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI) is a well-validated 19-item questionnaire used to measure burnout in different groups (e.g. employees, medical trainees, students) across three domains (personal, work, and client/customer). Total scores range from 0 to 100. Higher scores are associated with greater levels of burnout.	baseline (week 0), and weeks 4,12, and 26

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Attitudes and mediators of behavioral change assessed by self report	Attitudes and potential mediators of behavioral change will be assessed using a post-assessment survey consisting of short-answer and Likert-scale questions to be answered only by individuals who complete the active intervention. The survey will be distributed and completed at the end of each reflective writing workshop session. Analysis of the short response questions will use a rapid qualitative analysis method to identify patterns and themes. Likert-scale data will be analyzed by calculating the percentage of responses selecting each of the 5 dichotomous answer choices. A mean total score will be calculated through summation of all Likert scale categories as a numeric variable from 1-5, with higher scores indicating more positive responses for each question (e.g. Completely agree = 5 pts).	week 26

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Yale University
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Mathew Chiang, Yale University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Estimated): January 1, 2025
• Primary Completion (Estimated): January 1, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): January 1, 2026

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: August 11, 2023
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 11, 2023
• First Posted (Actual): August 21, 2023

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimated): September 2, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 25, 2025
• Last Verified: August 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Behavioral Symptoms; Stress, Psychological; Behavior; Burnout, Psychological
• Other Study ID Numbers: 2000035615

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No