Jonathan Kevan
Note: Title was current at time of award and may have changed.
Teaching to Thrive: Integrating Wellness and Learning in Health-Sciences Curriculum
Aspiring clinicians face the dual challenge of mastering complex medical content while avoiding burnout—a growing contributor to national healthcare workforce shortages. This three-year study embeds Seligman’s PERMA model of well-being (Positive Emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Achievement) into Arizona’s new Physician Assistant program through an “Integrated Well-Being Spiral” that interlaces wellness practices with course competencies, assessments, and guided reflection. Through longitudinal surveys and AI-assisted analysis of student reflections, the study will track the evolution of these five elements and how they correlate with academic outcomes. Findings will inform open-access resources and faculty development workshops, enabling other programs to scale wellness integration and shaping policy and practice across health sciences education. By uniting rigorous research with transformative innovation, this initiative supports CUES’s mission to elevate teaching, learning, and assessment—ultimately benefiting both students and the future healthcare system they will serve.