The effects of mindfulness as perceived by Brazilian medicine students

Abstract: Introduction: From the perspective of student health care, mental well-being is a key influence on quality of life and, consequently, on academic and professional performance. Mindfulness-based programs focus on developing stress management skills, representing effective strategies to improve mental health management. Furthermore, these programs are reproducible and can be conducted in groups. Objective: To analyze how medical students perceive a practical meditation program offered to them, focusing on the strategies learned from that experience. Method: This study was conducted at the Federal University of Paraná, using an existing Mindfulness protocol adapted to the reality of the undergraduate students. It was a qualitative methodological study to assess the impacts caused by the meditation and the effective life implications for the participants. Results: Significant changes were reported by the participants, such as greater self-care, improved personal organization and greater understanding of their emotions. They pointed out the strategy as an important support point to face the daily difficulties they encountered during medical school. Such aspects persisted in the accounts given by the participants even after six months of the intervention. Despite this improvement, the students did not incorporate meditation itself as a daily habit. Conclusions: From a group approach perspective, as well as the positive effects, the practice proved to be cheap and easy to reproduce. As there are numerous well-studied and established protocols for the practice, it could become an invaluable support tool for student mental health.