P2.A005: Finding Joy in the Community: Highlighting an Adolescent Community Advocacy Curriculum as a Means of Promoting Resident Wellness

Background: Pediatricians play a critical role as child health advocates. They must understand the health needs of communities, and educate patients on ways to promote health. One such population facing rising health crises is the adolescent population. With a national vaping epidemic, high rates of adolescent sexually transmitted infections, and increasing high-risk substance abuse by teenagers, adolescents face several health challenges during a vulnerable transition period. In addition, the Pediatric Resident Burnout and Resilience Study Consortium reported rates of pediatric resident burnout as high as 65% in 2021 [1]. As such, residency programs throughout the nation are searching for ways to promote resident well-being.

Project Description: Our residents participate in four weeks of Community Pediatrics and Child Advocacy (CPCA) in both the PL-2 and PL-3 years with a strong focus on adolescent engagement, educating teenagers on pertinent health topics. During the CPCA rotation, resident pairs created and presented interactive sessions for high school health classes on topics requested by the school targeting adolescent health challenges, including “Back to School, Not Back to Juul,” “Sexuality and Healthy Relationships,” and “Drugs and Addiction.” Sessions with freshman, junior, and senior classes will reach a total of 500 students per grade this academic year. Students had the opportunity to take part in “ask a doctor” sessions and anonymously ask our residents questions regarding any aspect of health. At the end of the rotation, residents completed a rotation evaluation and a brief survey addressing their community engagement experiences.

Discussion: The majority of residents who participated in the advocacy rotation stated that by working with adolescents, they felt “connected,” “empowered,” and “fulfilled.” In a post-rotation survey, 93% of second and third year residents rated quality of growth in clinical knowledge, skills, and attitudes as “very good” and “excellent.” Community partners at the high school increased the number of sessions based on positive feedback they received from participants.

Conclusion: Overall, residents were able to find joy and fulfillment through this advocacy curriculum. By connecting with adolescents in the community, residents were able to build trust needed for optimal medical care and foster open communication between teenagers and physicians. In the future, we hope to implement pre- and post-surveys for residents including objective measures of burnout, and create an assessment for students evaluating knowledge retained, utility of information, and changes to their personal health habits or attitudes following the presentations. We hope this curriculum can serve as a model for other residency programs to integrate community advocacy experiences as a means to promote resident well-being.

References
[1] Zuniga LM, Schuh A, Schwartz A, et al. Burnout During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Report on Pediatric Residents. Acad Pediatr. 2023;23(8):1620-1627. doi:10.1016/j.acap.2023.05.004