Adam Neufeld

The University of Calgary | HBI · Department of Family Medicine

According to self-determination theory (SDT), environments which support the basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness will facilitate autonomous motivation, learning, and wellness. On the other hand, environments which introduce external controls and power dynamics into the equation will do the opposite. Educational studi...

Purpose: Learner distress is a huge problem in medicine today, and medical institutions have been called upon to help solve this issue. Unfortunately, the majority have responded not by addressing the system and culture that have long plagued the profession, but by creating individual-focused “wellness” interventions (IFWs). As a result, medical le...

How can we claim that we are creating “lifelong learners” if we are not embedding assessments of self-regulated learning (SRL) into health professions education (HPE)? A good question but one that we must not try to answer too hastily. Some may consider SRL to be such an important competency that failing to assess it disservices everyone involved i...

According to self-determination theory (SDT), environments which assist the basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness will facilitate autonomous motivation, learning, and wellness. On the other hand, environments which introduce external controls and power dynamics into the equation will do the opposite. Educational studie...

Theory: Impostor phenomenon (IP) refers to people's feelings of intellectual fraudulence and fear of being "discovered," despite contradicting evidence of success. Due to its association with burnout and distress, it is progressively being studied in medicine. While various explanations for IP have been discussed in the literature, the role of moti...

Purpose: While the COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated a shift toward virtual medicine, there are some potentially important limitations with this modality of healthcare. One such concern, which has not yet been elucidated, is how telephone-based versus in-person visits differentially impact patients’ perceived autonomy and the resulting patient-pro...

Theory: Medical programs have turned to mindfulness-based initiatives to help reduce student distress and promote healthy coping within the learning environment. However, little attention has been paid to how fulfillment of medical students’ basic psychological needs (autonomy, competence, and relatedness) impacts their capacity to be mindful and c...

Introduction: Mentorship programs are ubiquitous in medical education. However, few emphasize equal development for learners and mentors, or incorporate clinical skills, which may be important for promoting medical students’ self-determination. Central to this consideration are the three basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relat...

Background Medical training can be highly stressful for students and negatively impact their mental health. Important to this matter are the types of coping strategies (and their antecedents) medical students use, which are only characterized to a limited extent. A better understanding of these phenomena can shed additional light on ways to support...

Introduction: Promoting intrinsic motivation in medical learners is key for maximizing their engagement, performance, and well-being. Accordingly, methods of teaching and giving feedback focused on enhancing intrinsic motivation (i.e. autonomy-supportive approaches) are becoming increasingly recognized in medical education. However, these methods s...

Purpose: Medical student distress is an increasing concern in medical education. Addressing this issue requires a comprehensive understanding of what factors influence learners' stress in medical school. Grounded in Self-Determination Theory (SDT), this study explores the relative association between medical students' mindfulness, resilience, basi...

Implication Statement We created a near-peer mentoring program in pre-clerkship, which gave medical students the opportunity to work together, teach others, and practice their clinical skills. It uniquely connects first year “learner-mentees” and second year “instructor-mentors” in semi-structured learning environments, from October to April. Bey...

Background: Self-determination theory (SDT) represents an organismic theory of motivation and well-being, viewing people as naturally evolving creatures with innate needs for growth, mastery, and connection. According to SDT, for these tendencies to function optimally and for people to flourish, they require support of three basic psychological nee...

Purpose: Medical student well-being is an increasing concern in medical education. Understanding the role instructors and programs have in supporting well-being is an important puzzle piece. This study explores the relationship between medical students’ perceptions of instructor autonomy-support, motivation, and well-being. Using self-determination...

We created a clinical ultrasound (CUS) elective in clerkship, which gave medical students the opportunity to enhance their knowledge and technical skills while refining their CUS-related clinical decision making. This elective uniquely allowed medical students to integrate their CUS knowledge and skills into real patient care within the clinical en...

Background: There is increasing acknowledgment that medical training is stressful for students and can impact their well-being. An important aspect of this is self-determination and basic psychological need satisfaction. A better understanding of how medical student perceptions of the learning environment impacts their basic psychological needs fo...