Mindfulness-based Therapy Versus Relaxation in Prevention of Burnout in Medical Students

A recent survey exploring mental health in a large cohort of French medical students and young graduates (N = 21.768), observed that 68.2% of participants showed pathologic anxiety. A high level of depressive symptomatology was found in 27.7% of participants, while suicidal ideation was reported by 23.7%. Mindfulness Based Interventions are beneficial for health with a positive impact on mood, anxiety, and well-being. It thus can be hypothesized that such interventions could help to prevent anxio-depressive symptomatology in medical students. The implementation of prevention programs to promote resilience to stress and empathy among medical students is a priority, included in French National Strategy for Health. Efficacy of Mindfulness Based Interventions in French university must be studied to confirm and strengthen their development. The originality of this project consists in the collaboration of medical schools from different cities and the longitudinal follow-up. The purpose of this study is to assess the efficacy of a mindfulness-based therapy in burnout prevention in comparison to relaxation.