MedEdPORTAL (Oct 2012)
Women in Medicine Wellness Workshop: Work-Life Integration
Abstract
Abstract Introduction Women in medicine face the challenge of balancing and integrating their personal and professional lives. The purpose of this resource is to provide a unique session for faculty, residents, and students focusing on the topics of personal wellness (via a yoga session), career goal setting, and work-life integration. The structure of the workshop is designed to facilitate networking and mentoring in a relaxed setting utilizing a mosaic of peer mentoring, vertical mentoring, and small-group break-out sessions with one senior mentor with multiple junior mentees. A faculty facilitator guides participants through the development of an individual plan, or work-life integration strategy, using a tool for planning professional and personal goals. Methods This session has been successfully deployed in an academic emergency medicine (EM) department and residency for women faculty, residents, and students in EM. It was a voluntary event held as part of the EM Women's Mentoring Group.. The session is typically facilitated by a female faculty member who hosts the 4-hour session in her home. The session is scheduled 6 months in advance and participants register online. The first hour of the session consists of a welcoming discussion and networking opportunities. The second hour provides a wellness session typically led by a yoga instructor. The final 2 hours consist of a workshop where participants engage in an inclusive group mentoring activity with small-group break-out sessions involving a facilitated practical exercise of creating an individual development plan and strategy. To assist the facilitator, workshop guidelines and instructions are provided. Results The workshop was evaluated with pre- and posttest surveys. There were 18 women in attendance with 16 completing the evaluation forms (the yoga instructor and the faculty facilitator were omitted). There were five faculty members, 10 residents, and one student. The surveys used a 5-point Likert Scale (1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree). For each question, averages were calculated and the Mann-Whitney Test was applied to report statistical significance as defined by p < 0.01. To the item “I regularly evaluate the steps I need to take for work-life integration,” the level of participant agreement significantly increased (pre = 3.19, post = 4.54). Overall, results showed that each participant's subjective reaction, behavior, competence, and attitude about goal setting, creating an individual work-life strategy, and work-life integration improved on the postworkshop evaluation. Discussion The workshop, and the resources provided, were effective in facilitating a very interactive session between faculty, residents, and students. From the faculty facilitator's perspective, the group structure, relaxed environment, yoga session, and fellowship were subjectively very successful in setting the stage for an open, interactive workshop.
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