Medical students often begin training with psychological and physiological health metrics superior to their age-matched peers. By graduation, however, rates of depression, anxiety, and physiologic dysregulation are markedly higher, reflecting the cumulative strain of long study hours, high-stakes examinations, and the emotional burden of early patient care. Despite this, few medical schools provide structured, evidence-based tools for students to develop resiliency and recovery skills before clinical rotations begin.
This gap represents both a health crisis and an educational opportunity. Burnout originating in medical school often persists into residency and practice, diminishing empathy and professionalism, and contributing to long-term attrition. Existing wellness offerings are largely reactive, relying on voluntary counseling or broad wellness sessions that fail to provide individualized insight into students' physiological readiness or stress recovery capacity. Moreover, schools lack objective, continuous data to pinpoint when students are physiologically stressed to tailor timely support. Against this backdrop, this study proposes evaluating a structured performance coaching and biometric feedback approach in the context of scheduled academic stressors. Arena Strive is a digital coaching platform that integrates a virtual human performance coach, wearable-derived biometric data, and a focused skills curriculum adapted from other high-stress domains and tailored to frontline healthcare workers. This novel intervention has proven effective in significantly reducing burnout and enhancing professional fulfillment and self-valuation in a large health-system through an 8-week intervention.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
NA
Purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
49
integrates asynchronous coaching, two virtual coaching sessions with a high-performance medicine coach, physiological data from wearable sensors, and a focused curriculum of performance tools tailored to frontline healthcare workers.
Wake Forest University Health Sciences
Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States
Heart Rate Variability
Mean daily nocturnal Heart Rate Variability (HRV): Higher = Better
Time frame: Weekly through Week 13
Resting Heart Rate (Beats per Minute)
daily nocturnal Resting Heart Rate (RHR): Lower = Better
Time frame: Weekly through Week 13
Sleep Duration (minutes)
Mean nightly sleep: Higher = Better
Time frame: Weekly through Week 13
Sleep Consistency (minutes)
SD of mid-sleep time: Lower = Better
Time frame: Weekly through Week 13
Change in Perceived Stress (Perceived Stress Scale PSS-4) Scores
To score the Perceived Stress Scale 4 (PSS-4), first, reverse the scores for questions 2 and 3 (0 becomes 4, 1 becomes 3, 2 stays 2, 3 becomes 1, and 4 becomes 0). Then, add up the scores for all four questions. The total score will range from 0 to 16, with higher scores indicating greater perceived stress.
Time frame: Weekly through Week 13
Change in Burnout (Maslach Burnout Inventory MBI-GSS) Scores
MBI-GSS scoring involves summing responses for each of its three subscales: emotional exhaustion, cynicism, and professional efficacy, which are rated on a 7-point frequency scale from 0 (never) to 6 (daily). To determine burnout, high scores on exhaustion and cynicism indicate higher burnout, while low scores on professional efficacy suggest greater burnout. These subscale scores are then interpreted separately to understand the level of burnout for each dimension. Each item is rated on a frequency scale (e.g., 0 to 6), and higher or lower scores on each subscale indicate different levels of burnout.
This platform is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional.
Time frame: Week 13