Mental skills limit surgical residents’ skill decay resulting from stress. However, optimal mental skills delivery is unknown. We sought to compare the impact of implementing our curriculum in small groups and individually.

At baseline, residents completed assessments of mental skills and laparoscopic suturing. Residents then participated in a comprehensive mental skills curriculum at two institutions. At the first institution, residents completed small group training, whereas residents at the second institution trained individually. Following mental skills training, residents completed FLS training, at which time they completed the Short State Stress Questionnaire detailing their engagement. At post-test, residents completed baseline assessments again.

Twenty-one residents completed training. Small groups were less engaged after training than individuals (Group average engagement: 26.4 vs. Individual average engagement: 29.6, p = 0.06).

Delivering mental skills individually facilitates greater engagement than training in small groups, but regardless of delivery method, our MSC can achieve the same outcomes on surgical performance.

Mental skills can reduce residents’ skill decay due to stress, but it is unclear how to optimally deliver mental skills training. We assessed the difference in engagement, mental skills use, and laparoscopic skill improvements between residents who received mental skills training individually and in small groups. We found that individually-trained residents were more engaged compared to those trained in groups, however, there were no differences between groups at post-test in their mental skills use or laparoscopic performance. It appears that there are no appreciable differences in outcomes resulting from implementing mental skills training with individual learners and small groups.