Hybrid simulation and immersive, lived-experience perspectives to shape medical student attitudes towards patients experiencing emotional distress, suicidality, and self-harm.

Abstract

Background: When medical students enter their first psychiatry rotation, they often feel under-prepared for the complex milieu of psychopathology, emotional distress, and complex psychosocial issues. Simulation is valued for its ability to orient learners to new environments. In this project, a hybrid simulation workshop was designed and delivered for fourth-year medical students. This study aimed to examine students' experience of this workshop and to explore participant attitudes towards people who experience mental distress.

Methods: Fourth-year undergraduate medical students were invited to complete pre- and post-workshop questionnaires that contained a series of previously developed scales, including the Stigma of Suicide Scale, the Literacy of Suicide Scale, the General Help-Seeking Behaviour Scale, the Attitudes and Confidence in the Integration of Psychiatry Scale, and the Satisfaction with Simulation Experience Scale.

Results: From a cohort of 172, 118 students participated (68.8%). The mean percentage of suicide literacy rose from 65.8 to 70.1%, with the highest literacy in the "treatment and management" domain (pre-workshop mean 92.9%, post-mean 95.0%) and lowest in the "signs and symptoms" domain (pre-workshop mean 38.0%; post-mean 44.5%). Suicide stigma was low both pre- and post-workshop. In both pre- and post-workshop, participants identified feeling most confident about screening for depression and least confident about managing symptoms of anxiety for patients and their relatives. Concerningly, 11% of the cohort stated they would not seek help themselves if they experienced thoughts of self-harm or suicide.

Conclusion: Using a combination of simulation modalities, students were oriented to their psychiatry placements. Importantly, this orientation focused on the experiences of people with lived experience of mental illness and how health professionals impact patient journeys through health and mental health services. Findings suggest this type of simulation workshop can support students in their dispositional readiness for placement in psychiatry units.