Promoting professional identity through peer support during studies: A report on the peer support in medical education project

Objective: Poor well-being, burnout and depression are prevalent among doctors, who are exposed to a variety of stresses and crisis situations. Even medical students have been described as prone to burnout due to ‘relentless demands on themselves’ [Mata DA et al., JAMA. 2015] or as vulnerable to illness from poor coping with psychosocial stress and the use of dysfunctional coping strategies [Puthran R et al., Med Educ. 2016]. In the model degree programme in human medicine at the University of Augsburg, students are offered peer support, with the aim of establishing self-care and collegial care which contribute to the development of professional identity. Collegial resources are used as both primary and secondary preventive measures in personal, study-related or clinic-related crises. Project description: Since 2022, training of student peers has been provided as part of a three-day elective course in cooperation with Munich’s PSU-Akut e.V., which, since 2019, has successfully implemented the concept of collegial support following serious incidents in the healthcare sector, for example at the University Hospital in Augsburg. Demand to date: By March 2025, 25 student peers had undergone training, which focuses on the practical and reflective practice of conversation processes, self-awareness, practising key peer communication skills, dealing with boundaries, stress-inducing thoughts, background knowledge on coping strategies and quick-acting stress-reduction strategies. As of March 2025, 42 peer-to-peer conversations had been documented. Contact was established by approaching peers in person, either by email or telephone. The main reasons for seeking support were perceived exhaustion and feeling overwhelmed by the amount of material to be covered – especially in combination with individual life circumstances, exam anxiety and perceived pressure to succeed. Conclusion: Based on initial experiences, the provision of student peer support can serve as a building block of professionally implemented identity development, in which self-care and collegial care are natural components of one’s own professional identity. The support offered by faculty as a primary and secondary preventive measure was found to be appreciated by some of the students (as expressed, for example, in evaluations and to the student and clinical mentors in mentoring groups). However, as in hospitals, such support should be continuously promoted during the establishment phase to ensure it becomes and remains widely known as a low-threshold option. Scientific proof of its effectiveness is currently being planned but is not yet available.