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Background/objective: Research has documented the high prevalence of stress and diminished well-being during health sciences education, as well as the persistence of these challenges throughout health practitioners’ professional careers [1], [2]. The present study utilized both variable-centered and person-centered approaches to investigate the development of well-being and stress across a semester. Specifically, it aimed to identify longitudinal clusters of change in well-being and stress and to examine whether students in different clusters differ in their levels of cognitive and metacognitive learning.

Methods: The sample included 188 veterinary undergraduates rotating weekly between various workplaces, covering topics such as anaesthesia, imaging diagnostics, surgery, reproduction, internal medicine, and emergency medicine. The participants completed the WHO well-being scale and perceived stress scale [3] at four time points throughout the semester and single items on cognitive and metacognitive aspects on a daily or weekly basis. The data were analysed via ANOVA, correlation analysis, cluster analysis and configuration frequency analysis (CFA).

Results: The variable-centred analysis indicated a decrease in well-being and an increase in stress over the semester, with well-being showing a negative association with stress. Person-centred analysis identified four longitudinal change clusters for both well-being and stress: Flourishers (positive trajectories beginning above average), adapters (positive trajectories beginning around the average), decliner (negative trajectories beginning above average) and strugglers (consistently below average). CFA resulted in two types and one antitype, showing systematic associations between specific well-being and stress cluster pairings. Compared to students in the other clusters, flourishers reported significantly higher use of a broad range of cognitive and metacognitive learning strategies.

Discussion: Future research would benefit from further application of person-centered approaches to illuminate distinct trajectories of well-being and stress. Attending to interindividual differences offers valuable opportunities to more effectively support students’ psychological functioning and optimize their learning processes.

Take-home messages:

• Health sciences students show distinct developmental trajectories of well-being and stress, highlighting the value of person-centred approaches.
• Students with flourishing well-being profiles report greater use of cognitive and metacognitive learning strategies.
• Recognizing interindividual differences is crucial for understanding mixed findings in prior research and for designing targeted support to promote well-being and effective learning during educational transitions.

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