Shared Living Experiences by Physicians have a Positive Impact on Mental Health Attitudes and Stigma among Medical Students: A Mixed-Methods Study

Abstract

Introduction: Medical culture can make trainees feel like there is neither room for mistakes, nor space for personal shortcomings in the makeup of physicians. A dearth of role models who can exemplify that it is acceptable to need support compounds barriers to help-seeking once students struggle. We conducted a mixed-methods study to assess the impact of physicians sharing their living experiences with medical students. Methods: Second-year medical students participated, through synchronized videoconferencing, in an intervention consisting of 3 physicians who shared personal histories of vulnerability (e.g. failure on high-stakes exams; immigration and acculturation stress; and personal psychopathology, including treatment and recovery), followed by facilitated, small-group discussions. For the quantitative component, students completed the Opening Minds to Stigma Scale for Health Care Providers (OMS-HC) before and after the intervention. For the qualitative component, we conducted focus groups to explore the study intervention. We analyzed anonymized transcripts using thematic analysis aided by NVivo software. Results: We invited all students in the class (n = 61, 46% women) to participate in the research component. Among the 53 participants (87% of the class), OMS-HC scores improved after the intervention ( P = .002), driven by the Attitudes ( P = .003) and Disclosure ( P < .001) subscales. We conducted 4 focus groups, each with a median of 6 participants (range, 5-7). We identified, through iterative thematic analysis of focus group transcripts, active components before, during, and after the intervention, with unexpected vulnerability and unarmored mutuality as particularly salient. Conclusions: Sharing histories of personal vulnerability by senior physicians can lessen stigmatized views of mental health and normalize help-seeking among medical students. Synchronous videoconferencing proved to be an effective delivery mechanism for the intervention in a ‘virtual wellness’ format. Candid sharing by physicians has the potential to enhance students’ ability to recognize, address, and seek help for their own mental health needs.

Controlled Study of the Impact of a Virtual Program to Reduce Stigma Among University Students Toward People With Mental Disorders

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Physician Well-being 2.0: Where Are We and Where Are We Going?

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Making It Real: From Telling to Showing, Sharing, and Doing in Psychiatric Education

“…Advances in Medical Education and Practice 2021:12 1384 we demonstrated reductions in depression-related stigma after exposure to two psychiatrists (one senior, one midcareer) sharing openly their symptoms, treatment, recovery, and ongoing adjustment to their living (rather than lived) experiences. 35 We replicated this finding twice: one in a second cohort of medical students in the same school, 36 and another in a multisite cohort of physician assistants, 37 in which the sharing, critically, was undertaken by senior physician assistants, ie, members of the same profession.…”