Associations Between Daily Wellness Behaviors and Outcomes among Medical Students

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 \u3e50% 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 outcome. Quality of social interactions had the greatest relative positive association with wellbeing. Any amount of exercise, including 1-30 minutes, was significantly associated with improved wellbeing outcomes compared to no exercise. A lagged analysis separating indicators and outcomes by one day found wellbeing was only associated with limited sleep (\u3c 6 hours) and higher nutritional quality the day prior. Conclusion: This study provides substantial information on daily wellness behaviors and their relative impact on medical student wellbeing. Social interaction and exercise of any duration may be more important to wellbeing than previously recognized. Infrequently studied behaviors, including kindness, nutrition, and screen time, were also found to have significant associations with wellbeing. The numerous significant associations between behaviors and outcomes suggest a cumulative effect and point to the multifactorial nature of medical student wellbeing. This study may aid medical schools in developing high-impact initiatives and curricular changes that promote wellbeing for their students

The Effects of COVID-19 on Substance Use Behaviors at UVM

The effect of COVID-19 on college students is unique. Many US college and university students were vacated from their campus residences as their institutions switched to remote instruction. Previously published literature cites the negative mental health effects in college students that COVID-19 has provided. Exacerbation of mental health is known to be a risk factor in substance use disorder (SUD). We used survey data from a subsample of a large, ongoing longitudinal study that examines student wellness and substance use at the University of Vermont (WE) (n=675) to study the potential effects of COVID-19 on substance use behaviors. We hypothesized that there would be a difference in substance use behaviors pre and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The nature of this continuous study allows for the baseline to be measured before the COVID-19 pandemic while minimizing time-related reporting biases. We found statistically significant decreases in overall marijuana and liquor use along with significant interaction effects of gender, socioeconomic status, and wellness program status on tobacco use. We were surprised that SUD rates decreased in the face of the Pandemic, leading to the question of the role that living on campus plays on the rates of SUD in college-aged students