title: Peer-led Stress Prevention Seminars in the First Year of Medical School--A Project Report.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  From the beginning of the first year of medical studies, increased psychological stress and elevated burnout prevalence rates can be registered compared to sample populations. Characterized by learning "on an equal footing", the principle of peer-assisted learning (PAL) is widely used in medical education. This report aims to showcase the development and evaluation of peer-led stress prevention seminars for first year medical students after one year of implementation.
  
  
  METHODS
  With each of the three sessions lasting 90 min., the stress prevention seminars took place in small groups (6-10 students) in the period from November 2013 to January 2014 and from November 2014 to December 2014 at the Medical Faculty of Heidelberg. Led by trained peers, the seminar content ranged from psycho-educational elements, i.e. time management strategy development and test anxiety assistance, to relaxation techniques. All seminar sessions were evaluated via questionnaire. All questions were answered on a Likert scale ranging from 1 to 7 (1=strongly agree; 7=strongly disagree).
  
  
  RESULTS
  75 students consented to participate in seminars (65% female; aged 20.5±3.3 years). The series of seminars was averagely given the school grade of 1.2±0.4 (1=very good to 6=unsatisfactory) in WS 2013/14 and 1.5±0.5 in the following year and the peer tutors' competence was evaluated as very high (1.4 to 1.5 approval rate on the Likert scale).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The seminar sessions' importance to the students is underlined by their very positive evaluations. This offer seems to have benefited students especially during the demanding transitional phase at the start of their studies. Both the implementation of the preventive measure at an early stage as well as the use of PAL seem to have proven effective.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  PAL seems to be effective in the field of stress prevention. However, specific efficacy studies are still lacking.
authors.affiliation: University Hospital of Heidelberg, Department of General Internal and Psychosomatic Medicine, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Till Johannes
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Bugaj
authors.affiliation: University Hospital of Heidelberg, Department of General Internal and Psychosomatic Medicine, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mücksch
authors.affiliation: University Hospital of Heidelberg, Department of General Internal and Psychosomatic Medicine, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Carolin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Schmid
authors.affiliation: University Hospital of Tübingen, Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Florian
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Junne
authors.affiliation: University Hospital of Tübingen, Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Erschens
authors.affiliation: University Hospital of Heidelberg, Department of General Internal and Psychosomatic Medicine, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Herzog
authors.affiliation: University Hospital of Heidelberg, Department of General Internal and Psychosomatic Medicine, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Nikendei
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002055:Burnout, Professional / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology; D003479:Curriculum; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006126:Group Processes; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010379:Peer Group; D012577:Schools, Medical; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000523:psychology*; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: medical studies; prevention; psychosocial burden; stress