Compassion, Resilience, and Emotional Awareness Training for Healthcare Professionals – CREATE (Online)

ELEC 517

Department
Cancer Biology and Pharmacology

Clinical or Non-Clinical Course
Non-Clinical

Physician Assessed Patient Facing
No

Prerequisites
None

Goal
C.R.E.A.T.E. (Compassion, Resilience and Emotion Awareness Training and Education) is a 2-week elective that includes ten 3-hour live online sessions and daily assignments of research articles and educational videos. The curriculum is aimed at developing skills that promote well-being, resilience, mindfulness, compassion for self and others, and emotional awareness and regulation. It incorporates components from three evidence-based programs: CBCT® (Cognitively‑Based Compassion Training); MSC (Mindful Self-Compassion) and its healthcare adaptation, SCHC (https://centerformsc.org/pages/schc); and CEB (Cultivating Emotional Balance). It also includes mindfulness practices from the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program (https://mmtcp.soundstrue.com/).

The virtual sessions include discussions of current literature on well-being and resilience, as well as topics such as loneliness, imposter syndrome, implicit bias in healthcare, and the impact of mindfulness and compassion training on medical students, residents, and healthcare professionals. The course was developed and is taught by M. Bento Soares, Ph.D., Professor and Head of Cancer Biology and Pharmacology and Senior Associate Dean for Research at the University of Illinois College of Medicine Peoria, who is a certified instructor of all five educational programs mentioned above.

INSTRUCTIONAL METHODS:
The course will include didactic sessions, reflective writing exercises, guided meditation practices, and small‑group and full‑class discussions. Students will also present assigned research articles and educational videos.

Objectives
At the end of this course, the student will be able to:

  1. Learn four strategies for emotion regulation
  2. Relate to adversities with greater emotional awareness and kindness toward self and others
  3. Relate to patients with empathetic concern and compassion rather than empathetic distress or indifference
  4. Become more aware of implicit biases and their influence on behavior and emotional experiences
  5. Respond to challenging situations with greater discernment and kindness rather than reacting impulsively or harshly
  6. Learn supportive practices to cultivate well-being and resilience
  7. Become a compassionate friend to self and others
  8. Develop feelings of warm-heartedness toward an ever-widening circle of people

Method of Assessment
Standard Non-clinical Evaluation - Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory

Additional Methods
Evaluations will be based on attendance, quality of participation in daily Zoom sessions, presentations of assigned articles and videos, and completion of a final written essay.

Course Director
Marcelo Bento Soares, Ph.D.

Course Coordinator
Jeanne Reddy
jreddy@uic.edu
309.671.3414

Location
Online

Setting
Neither Outpatient nor Inpatient

Night Call
No

Laboratory
No

Weekends
No

House Staff
No

Number of Learners per Block
30

Duration
2 weeks

Who is this elective available to
Both M3s and M4s

Blocks Available
5a, Fall Break, 9a, 11b, 12b