Development and Evaluation of a Nutrition-Centered Lifestyle Medicine Curriculum for Physician Assistant Students

Marianna S Wetherill, Gracen C Davis, Krista Kezbers, Valarie Carter, Elizabeth Wells, Mary B Williams, Shannon D Ijams, Dominique Monlezun, Timothy Harlan, Lori J Whelan, Marianna S Wetherill, Gracen C Davis, Krista Kezbers, Valarie Carter, Elizabeth Wells, Mary B Williams, Shannon D Ijams, Dominique Monlezun, Timothy Harlan, Lori J Whelan

Abstract

Background: US medical schools are increasingly integrating lifestyle medicine competencies into their academic programs. Yet, physician assistant (PA) academic programs have been slower to respond.

Methods: We developed, implemented, and evaluated a nutrition-centered lifestyle medicine curriculum for 2nd-year PA students (n = 24). The 4-week hybrid, 2-credit hour course activities aligned with the American College of Lifestyle Medicine competencies for primary care providers and reinforced four of the Accreditation Standards for PA Education. We combined didactic lectures with weekly hands-on cooking modules from the "Health meets Food" courseware for medical students. We employed a pre-post evaluation design including a comparison group of 2nd-year PA students in a separate program. We assessed changes in personal nutrition behaviors and knowledge and confidence for counseling in nutrition, exercise/physical activity, weight, smoking, and alcohol, using the modified 5A's framework (assess, advise, agree, assist, and arrange) for lifestyle counseling.

Results: Students receiving the intervention demonstrated significantly higher gains in both knowledge and confidence for the 5A's of nutrition counseling compared to the control group. Self-reported knowledge and confidence for the 5A's of counseling for the other lifestyle behaviors similarly improved among the intervention group compared to the control group, but to a lesser extent.

Conclusion: A nutrition-centered lifestyle medicine course can demonstrate PA academic program adherence to accreditation standards, while also introducing students to nutrition and lifestyle medicine competencies. Hands-on experiences that reinforce didactic instruction may maximize student knowledge and self-efficacy for implementing lifestyle medicine into their practice.

Keywords: Culinary medicine; Lifestyle medicine; Medical nutrition education; Physician assistant students.

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of InterestOn behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.

© The Author(s) 2018.

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Source: PubMed

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