LIFESTYLE MEDICINE: WORLD EXPERIENCE OF IMPLEMENTATION IN THE CURRICULUM OF HIGHER EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS

• Elena I. Aksenova
• Natalia N. Kamynina
• Peter S. Turzin

Abstract

Background. Lifestyle medicine, as a new field of preventive medicine, is aimed at eliminating the root causes of diseases caused by unhealthy diet, insufficient physical activity, stress, alcohol and psychoactive substances, tobacco smoking, irrational work and rest regime, overwork and poor quality sleep. The introduction of lifestyle medicine into the curriculum as an educational discipline can contribute to a better understanding of the role of prevention of chronic diseases, as well as the improvement of individual and public health.

The aim. The study of modern foreign experience of teaching lifestyle medicine at different levels of education of medical professionals (from students to practicing medical personnel) to consider the possibility of introducing this experience into the curricula of the Russian education system.

Material and methods. As a result of a search in the PubMed international database based on the keywords "lifestyle medicine", "healthy lifestyle", "medical workers" and "education", limited to the period from 2014 to 2022, more than a thousand systematic reviews, meta-analyses and articles devoted to these scientific and practical areas were found. Outcomes of interest included the health of patients and the population, as well as the quality of health care workers. Articles exclusively in English were used in the selection of articles. The agreed expert opinions of the authors were used as inclusion and exclusion criteria. After the final selection and exclusion of the results of insufficient scientific and practical significance, the analysis included the most suitable 18 sources (of these, about 80% over the past 5 years) from 4 countries. The authors evaluated the quality of these reviews, meta-analyses and articles and obtained generalized new data on the studied problem.

Results and discussion. The review presents the results of the analysis and generalization of 18 systematic reviews, meta-analyses and articles that describe the features of training in the field of lifestyle medicine as a branch of medicine, a field of science, an educational discipline, as well as the health-enhancing power of daily habits and practices. The article presents the discovered foreign programs, practices and recommendations aimed at the formation of necessary competencies in the field of a healthy lifestyle among medical workers.

Conclusion. The programs, practices and recommendations currently used abroad aimed at the formation of the necessary competencies in the field of a healthy lifestyle among medical workers have been identified. It is proposed to use the foreign experience of including the discipline of healthy lifestyle in specialty’s, bachelor’s, master’s and continuing medical education programs.

Keywords:lifestyle medicine; healthy lifestyle; medical workers; health; review

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