PROMESS – Preventive Remediation for Optimal MEdical StudentS

Topics: Personal factors / Mixed-methods approach / Healthcare professionals' health / Medical education
Funding: Contribution de vie étudiante et de campus - CVEC - Lyon 1 Université
Chief Scientist: Sophie Schlatter (MCU)
Project co-leaders :    Angèle Métais (MCU),    Marc Lilot (Professeur),    Gilles Rode (Professeur, Doyen)
Contributors :  -    Health professionals / Researchers : Antoine Duclos, Jean-Baptiste Fassier, Jean-Christophe Lifante, Julie Haesebaert, Amélie Henry (SSU). -    Researchers : Guillaume Bodet, Etienne Gouraud, Christophe Hautier, Baptiste Morel-prieur, Mathilde Mura, Vincent Pialoux, Laura Schmidt, Mathilde Bertrand. -    Engineers : Bérénice Valero, Marina Faisien. -    Doctoral students : Aline Rollet, Evan Gouy. -    Doctoral students in medecine : Mélina Aouidat, Léa Besnard, Alexia Gleich, Olivier Loisel, Evrard-Florentin Ndiki Mayi, Mohammad Omarjee, Axelle Ruet, Alexandre Krikorian, Benoît Lecocq, Aïssata Fofana, Mélissa Boukroune, Louis Théry, Grégoire Courtalon -    Medical internships:  Lise Jaboulet, Justine Magaud, Aya Mekki, Chiara De Chaumeils, Juliette Lavergne, Clémence Fournier, Mayane Glatigny, Isaure Beaudoin, Lily Franquin Georgeault, Lyana Bouzaher, Caithline Frustié, Fadila Moujjani, Morgane Brezzo, Salma Er-Rkaibi, Ninon Bachelet. -    Internships IADE : Guylain Delacôte, Barbara Levesque, Alexandre Maillia, Béatrice Milli, Samantha Rosand, Julien Gonin, Aymeric Milan, Ludo Planchat, Jérémy Pinsson, Gaëtan Sabatier, Cécile Rouquette, Curtis Thuillier, Fanny Dury. -    Internships IBODE : Louis Duriaux, Kévin Lemays.  -    Public health internships : Steven Clocuh, Damien Marrocco, Elyse Grün -    Psychology internships : Lise Razakamanana, Aya Bessad, Enzo Schaefer.
Gestionnaire :  Lyon 1 Université
Project description : A healthcare professional’s performance determines their ability to provide the best possible care to patients. This competence depends both on their initial level of skill and on their ability to learn in a complex and ever-changing environment. Since medical school is highly competitive, students must also develop the ability to regulate their emotions and manage their own health. A student who possesses these skills is expected to succeed in their studies and acquire an adequate level of expertise to provide the best possible care to patients. This project offers a long-term perspective on improving healthcare through a better understanding of how stress regulation, sleep quality, and appropriate physical activity influence learning and clinical performance.

PROMESS: Preventive Remediation for Optimal MEdical StudentS

Medical students face intense competitive pressure throughout their training. This project will test the hypothesis that improving their well-being will enable students to best express their talents during their studies. To this end, the participating students will follow a training program in preventive coping techniques based on three modules: stress management, sleep management, and increasing physical activity. 

This project will make it possible to offer a preventive intervention program focused on stress management, sleep, and increased physical activity, tailored to the specific needs of college students, on a sustainable basis.

- Phase 1: Identification of students’ needs (focus groups) and co-development of the intervention with medical students and SSU professionals—completed (2023).

- Phase 2: Implementation of the randomized controlled trial—completed (2023–2024).

• Design: Single-center, randomized, controlled trial.

• Population: Volunteer students enrolled in their 4th and/or 5th year at the Lyon-Est School of Medicine.

• Intervention: A comprehensive intervention focused on stress management, improving sleep, and promoting physical activity.

• Outcome measures: Quality of life, psychophysiological stress, sleep quality, level of physical activity, sedentary behavior, academic performance.

- Phase 3: Evaluation of the program’s effectiveness and its impact—ongoing (2025–2026).

- Phase 4: Larger-scale rollout of the PROMESS project. Launch of PROMESS-Group, a randomized controlled trial involving volunteer students enrolled in their 4th and/or 5th year at the Lyon-Est and Lyon Sud medical schools, as well as doctoral students enrolled in the health-related doctoral programs at EDISS, CanBioS, and NSCo. - Completed (2024–2026).

- Phase 5: Evaluation of the program’s effectiveness and its impact—in progress (2025–2026).

- Phase 6: Large-scale rollout of the program—to come.

Keywords: Quality of life, Stress, Sleep, Physical activity, Sedentary lifestyle, medical students, doctoral students, performance

Scientific valorisation :

1.     Implementing biofeedback as a proactive coping strategy: Psychological and physiological effects on anticipatory stress, Schlatter S, Schmidt L, Lilot M, Guillot A, Debarnot U. Behaviour Research & Therapy, 103834, (2021). 

2.     Personality traits affect anticipatory stress vulnerability and coping effectiveness in occupational critical care situations, Schlatter S, Louisy S, Canada B, Therond C, Duclos A, Blakeley C, Lehot JJ, Rimmelé T, Guillot A, Lilot M, Debarnot U. Scientific Reports, 12, 20965, (2022). 

3.     Effects of relaxing breathing paired with cardiac biofeedback on performance and relaxation during critical simulated situations: A prospective randomized controlled trial, Schlatter S, Therond C, Guillot A, Louisy S, Duclos A, Lehot JJ, Rimmelé T, Debarnot U, Lilot M. BMC Medical Education, 22, 422, (2022). 

4.     OSCEs for ranking medical students. Cortet, M., Lilot, M., & Rode, G. Medical Teacher, 44(12), 1424–1425. (2022)

5.     Association of Personality Traits With the Efficacy of Stress Management Interventions for Medical Students Taking Objective Structured Clinical Examinations. Le Saux O, Canada B, Debarnot U, Haouhache Nour, Lehot JJ, Binay M, Cortet M, Rimmelé T, Duclos A, Gilles R, Lilot M, Schlatter S. Academic Medicine 99(7):p 784-793, July 2024. 

6.     Associations of coping and health-related behaviors with medical students’ well-being and performance during objective structured clinical examination. Barret, N., Guillaumée, T., Rimmelé, T. Cortet M, Mazza S, Duclos A, Rode G, Lilot M, Shclatter S. Sci Rep 14, 11298 (2024).

7.     Addressing medical students' health challenges: codesign and pilot testing of the Preventive Remediation for Optimal MEdical StudentS (PROMESS) program. Métais A, Besnard L, Valero B, Henry A, Schott AM, Rode G, Haesebaert J, Fassier JB, Schlatter S. BMC Med Educ. 2025 May 31;25(1):812. doi: 10.1186/s12909-025-07209-4. PMID: 40450222; PMCID: PMC12126864. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12126864/

8.     Determining the influence of an intervention of stress management on medical students' levels of psychophysiological stress: the protocol of the PROMESS-Stress clinical trial. Métais A, Omarjee M, Valero B, Gleich A, Mekki A, Henry A, Duclos A, Lilot M, Rode G, Schlatter S. BMC Med Educ. 2025 Feb 11;25(1):225. doi: 10.1186/s12909-024-06344-8. PMID: 39934759; PMCID: PMC11818132. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11818132/ 

9.     Determining the influence of a sleep improvement intervention on medical students' sleep and fatigue: protocol of the PROMESS-Sleep clinical trial. Ruet A, Ndiki Mayi EF, Métais A, Valero B, Henry A, Duclos A, Lilot M, Rode G, Schlatter S.  BMC Med Educ. 2025 Feb 19;25(1):267. doi: 10.1186/s12909-024-06422-x. PMID: 39972313; PMCID: PMC11841311. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11841311/

10.   Reducing Sedentary Behavior and Promoting Physical Activity in Medical Students: Protocol of the PROMESS-Physical Activity Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial. Schlatter, S., Mura, M., Bertrand, M. F., Morel, B., Loisel, O., Aouidat, M., Gouraud, E., Henry, A., Hautier, C., Pialoux, V., Rode, G., & Métais, A. (2026). Accepted for publication in Trials (18th September 2026) https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-7441836/v1

11.       Evaluating the effect of a health-promoting behavioural programme on student’s quality of life, academic self-efficacy and health: Protocol of the PROMESS-Group randomised controlled trial. Krikorian A**, Lecocq B**; Faisien M, Rollet A, Gouy E, Mura M, Métais A, Spiegel K, Pelloux S, Haesebaert J, Rode G, Schlatter S. (2026). https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.05.28.26354323v1.

12.       The PROMESS Programme Reduces Sedentary Behaviour and Preserves Physical Activity in Medical Students: A Randomised Controlled Clinical Trial. Bertrand MF, Mura M, Rollet A, Faisien M, Rozier-Delgado P, Cordier Q, Morel B, Pialoux V, Rode G, Métais A, Schlatter S. (2026). Accepté pour publication (Trials) publication à venir.

13.       Exploring medical students’ empowerment through a peer coaching health programme: a qualitative study. Faisien M, Métais A, Pannard M, Rollet A, Haesebaert J, Schott AM, Rode G, Schlatter S. (2026). publication à venir.

Congrès / communication orale :

1.     PROMESS’s Projet – Preventive Remediation for Optimal MEdical StudentS: participative aspect. Congrès de la SoFraSims (Société Francophone de Simulation en Santé) 1-3 Juin 2023. Nice, France. Mekki A, Haesebaert J, Duclos A, Rode G, Rimmelé T, Fassier JB, Lilot M, Schlatter S à Prix du meilleur projet de recherche

2.     Personality traits and efficacy of stress management interventions for medical students. A randomized controlled trial. 5th World Congress of Personality, Willemstad, Curaçao. 2-5 Avril 2024. Canada B, LeSaux O, Debarnot U, El Houda Haouhache N, Lehot JJ, Binay M, Cortet M, Rimmelé T, Duclos A, Rode G, Lilot M, Schlatter S.

3.     Evaluation of Physical Activity, Sedentary Behaviour and Fitness levels in Medical Students:  An Alarming Situation. Congrès ECSS, Glasgow. 3-5 Juillet 2024. Mura M, Metais A, Pialoux V, Hautier C, Aouidat M, Loisel O, Bodet G, Rode G, Schlatter S. - communication orale

4.       Medical students enhance their well-being, social connections and skills following a peer coaching health program. AMEE Conference, Vienna, Austria). 22–26 August 2026. Faisien M, Métais A, Rode G, Schlatter S.  

mise à jour : septembre 2026