The impact of the educational environment on career choice and attitudes toward psychiatry

Mahendran, Rathi; Lim, Haikel A.; Verma, Swapna; Kua, Ee Heok

doi:10.3109/0142159x.2015.1009021

Cited by 24 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 16 publications

(14 reference statements)

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“…Compared with undergraduate education in the health professions, there is a dearth of studies examining the learning environment and its interrelationships with other correlates within postgraduate education including psychiatry. For example, DREEM scores are inversely associated with academic achievement [6–8], and positively correlated with quality of life [9], resilience levels [9], positive attitudes toward psychiatry [10], mindfulness [11], and perceived preparedness for practice [12] in undergraduate medical students. Poor academic self-perception has also been associated with psychological distress and poor peer support [13].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Learning environment, stress and coping in psychiatry residents within a national training program: a longitudinal study

2019

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Introduction Perception of one’s learning environment is associated with academic performance and well-being of medical students. Yet, few studies have explored learners’ perceptions and their correlates within a postgraduate environment. This study examined longitudinal changes in learning environment perception, perceived stress and coping for psychiatry residents in junior and senior years of training. Based on extant social learning theories, we hypothesized that learning environment perceptions will improve with seniority, and be accompanied by lower stress levels and better coping. Methods Eighty-two out of 101 psychiatry residents (81.2%) from our National Psychiatry Residency Program rated their perception of learning environment, perceived stress, and coping strategies from June 2016 to June 2018. Correlations between these variables, and changes across five timepoints were examined. Results Senior-year residents reported better perception of learning environment over time, together with increased use of problem-focused coping and lowered perceived stress levels. Junior-year residents reported no changes in learning environment perception and coping strategies, despite rating greater perceived stress levels over time. Perception of learning environment negatively correlated with perceived stress levels and specific coping strategies. Discussion Based on these findings, we suggest specific strategies with the emphasis on context, participation, and social interaction within a community of practice to better support residents in training, which are applicable to other similar training programs.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Learning environment, stress and coping in psychiatry residents within a national training program: a longitudinal study

2019

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“…Students' experiences and subsequent attitudes to psychiatry are significantly influenced by their learning environment (Mahendran, Lim, Verma, & Kua, ), but few studies have attempted to explore medical students' experiences in learning MSEs. Findings from the present study suggest that SPs are useful in building confidence in dealing with psychiatric patients, improving psychiatry history taking and clinical skills, and facilitating communication and counseling skills, which are consistent with past research (Keltner, Grant, & McLernon, ; Lewis, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Medical students' experiences in learning the Mental State Examination with standardized patients

Mahendran

Lim

Kua

2019

Asia-Pacific Psychiatry

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Introduction: Standardized patients are widely used in psychiatry teaching and examinations, but their effectiveness in teaching psychopathology and the Mental State Examination in particular has not been established. A mixed-methods study was undertaken amongst fourth year medical students during a psychiatry rotation to explore the usefulness of learning the Mental State Examination with standardized patients compared with real patients.Methods: Qualitative semistructured interviews (N = 10) were done to explore learning experiences with standardized patients. The Experience with Standardized Patients Scale was used (N = 200) for the quantitative assessment in relation to examination performance and learning experience. Results:In qualitative interviews, the common themes were that the experience with standardized patients was not natural and made it difficult to suspend disbelief, but students recognized the usefulness of standardized patients for practicing their skills. While there was no significant relationship between overall student experiences with standardized patients and their examination performance in the end-of-rotation Observed Standardized Clinical Examination (P = .40), the exception was with those who perceived they learnt more communication skills with standardized patients (P = .002). Students' experience with standardized patients role-playing psychotic disorders was poorest compared with standardized patients role-playing depressive and neurotic disorders. There were statistically significant differences in experiences between the three diagnostic groups.Discussion: Standardized patients are useful in psychiatry for students to practice and improve their skills in eliciting psychopathology. However, attention to the training and selection of these individuals for psychiatric roles are crucial. KEYWORDS Mental State Examination, psychiatry training, standardized patientsHaikel Lim is presently a graduate medical student at Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore.

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“…A study among local medical students revealed positive attitudinal change but worsening associative stigma towards psychiatry following a clinical rotation and suggested that stigma relating to psychiatry could be the main cause for a lack of consideration of psychiatry as a career. 11 One possibility could be that the medical students undergoing clinical rotation in psychiatry in Singapore were generally exposed to sicker and more chronic patients which led them to view psychiatry more negatively. Such negative experiences encountered during clinical exposure during the students’ medical school years could lead them to narrow their medical specialty options.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychiatry as a career choice among medical students: a cross-sectional study examining school-related and non-school factors

et al. 2018

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ObjectivesGiven the low recruitment to psychiatry worldwide, the current study aimed to examine how premedical and intramedical school factors, perception of career aspects, attitudes towards psychiatry, stigma towards mental illness and personality traits may affect the likelihood of psychiatry as a career choice.DesignCross-sectional online study.Participants502 medical students from two public medical institutions in Singapore.MethodsWe critically examined existing literature for factors identified to influence psychiatry as a career choice and explored their effects in a group of medical students in Singapore. To avoid overloading the regression model, this analysis only included variables shown to have significant association (p<0.05) with the outcome variable from the initial Χ2 test and independent t-test analyses.ResultsA considerable number of non-medical school factors such as preschool influence and interest, personality traits and importance of a high status specialty in medicine were found to affect students’ choice of psychiatry as a career. Among medical school factors, attending a psychiatry/mental health club was the only influential factor. Negative attitudes towards psychiatry, but not stigma towards people with mental illness, significantly predicted the likelihood of not choosing psychiatry as a career.ConclusionsImproving educational environment or teaching practice in psychiatric training may aid in future recruitment for psychiatrists. While the changing of premedical school influences or personality factors may be infeasible, medical schools and psychiatry institutes could play a more critical role by enhancing enrichment activities or clerkship experience to bring about a more positive attitudinal change towards psychiatry among students who did consider a career in psychiatry.

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The impact of the educational environment on career choice and attitudes toward psychiatry

Cited by 24 publications

References 16 publications

Learning environment, stress and coping in psychiatry residents within a national training program: a longitudinal study

Learning environment, stress and coping in psychiatry residents within a national training program: a longitudinal study

Medical students' experiences in learning the Mental State Examination with standardized patients

Psychiatry as a career choice among medical students: a cross-sectional study examining school-related and non-school factors

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The impact of the educational environment on career choice and attitudes toward psychiatry

Cited by 24 publications

References 16 publications

Learning environment, stress and coping in psychiatry residents within a&nbsp;national training program: a&nbsp;longitudinal study

Learning environment, stress and coping in psychiatry residents within a&nbsp;national training program: a&nbsp;longitudinal study

Medical students' experiences in learning the Mental State Examination with standardized patients

Psychiatry as a career choice among medical students: a cross-sectional study examining school-related and non-school factors

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Learning environment, stress and coping in psychiatry residents within a national training program: a longitudinal study

Learning environment, stress and coping in psychiatry residents within a national training program: a longitudinal study