Learning Diagnostic Skills Online (German: Diagnostik Skills Online Lernen)

NCT05294094 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: 16DHB3010
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 350
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 3

Brief Summary

Clinical psychologists give diagnoses to their patients everyday and these diagnoses determine if and how these patients will be treated. Misdiagnoses can have severely adverse effects. Therefore, teaching diagnostic skills to clinical psychologists is very important during their undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate training. One major problem in teaching diagnostics is that there are too few opportunities to practice with real patients due to legal and ethical restrictions. The aim of the DiSkO-project is, therefore, the development and evaluation of a blended learning course to teach diagnostic skills to (future) clinical psychologists. In order to make the diagnostic training more practical a series of video files of simulated diagnostic interviews will be presented in an online course. These video files will be divided in different segments and presented with questions and automatic feedback. In a second step, learners will make a transfer to a real face-to-face diagnostic situation with an actor simulating a patient. The DiSkO- course will be evaluated in a randomized-controlled trial at three universities in Germany (Ruhr-University of Bochum, Philipps University of Marburg, University of Cologne). To test whether students are equally good in administering a diagnostic interview after taking the DiSkO-course compared to students who took part in a traditional face-to-face university course a noninferiority-analysis will be conducted. Furthermore, diagnostic knowledge and attitudes toward evidence-based assessment after taking part in DiSkO vs. the face-to-face course will be compared. The investigators aim at disseminating the open source DiSkO-course to other universities or institutions of tertiary education in Germany with the aim of improving the diagnostic training for students, better prepare them for their clinical practice and thus improve patients' health care in Germany.

Conditions

Diagnosis, Psychiatric

Keywords

clinical interview; blended learning; diagnostic interview

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Behavioral Measure: Performance in a structured interview

  Conducting a 15 minute section of a structured interview with a patient played by an actor. This interview is videotaped and then rated by independent evaluators regarding e.g. rules of correct implementation and clincial interviewing skills.

  13 weeks

Secondary Outcomes (9)

• Knowledge Test A

  1 week

• Knowledge Test B

  14 weeks

• Münster Questionnaire for the Evaluation of Seminars - revised (MFE-Sr; Thielsch & Hirschfeld, 2010)

  14 weeks

• Website-Clarity, Likeability, Informativeness, and Credibility (Web-CLIC; Thielsch & Hirschfeld, 2019)

  14 weeks

• Brief scale for teaching evaluation (Zumbach, Spinath, Schahn, Friedrich & Kögel, 2007)

  14 weeks

Other Outcomes (1)

• Lesson evaluation

  After each lesson during the intervention (during week 8-10)

Study Arms (2)

intervention group

EXPERIMENTAL

blended learning

Behavioral: blended learning

control group

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

Teaching format as usual

Behavioral: teaching format as usual

Interventions

blended learning BEHAVIORAL

The blended learning course consists of two parts. The first part is an online course with case studies and instructional videos providing basic clinical diagnostic knowledge and the ability to conduct structured clinical interviews. In the second part, learners get to discuss the course content with a teacher, practice their interviewing skills with other students and make a transfer to a real face-to-face diagnostic situation with an actor simulating a patient.

intervention group

teaching format as usual BEHAVIORAL

The teaching format as usual represents the usual teaching of clinical diagnostic knowledge and the ability to conduct structured clinical interviews. Also in this intervention students also have the opportunity to discuss the course content with a teacher, practice their interviewing skills with other students and conduct a structured interview with an actor simulating a patient.

control group

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Psychology bachelor students of a cooperating university (Ruhr-University of Bochum, University of Cologne, Philipps-University of Marburg)

You may not qualify if:

• previous participation in a diagnostic seminar

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Ruhr University of Bochum: lead
• University of Cologne: collaborator
• University of Kaiserslautern-Landau: collaborator
• Philipps Universität Marburg: collaborator

Study Sites (3)

Philipps University of Marburg

Marburg, Hesse, 35032, Germany

Location

Ruhr-University Bochum

Bochum, North Rhine-Westphalia, 44787, Germany

Location

University of Cologne

Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, 50969, Germany

Location

Related Publications (1)

• Bonnin G, Krober S, Schneider S, Margraf J, Pflug V, Gerlach AL, Slotta T, Christiansen H, Albrecht B, Chavanon ML, Hirschfeld G, In-Albon T, Thielsch MT, von Brachel R. A Blended Learning Course on the Diagnostics of Mental Disorders: Multicenter Cluster Randomized Noninferiority Trial. J Med Internet Res. 2024 Nov 27;26:e54176. doi: 10.2196/54176.

  PMID: 39602218 DERIVED

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Mental Disorders

Study Officials

• Ruth E von Brachel, Dr.

  Ruhr-University Bochum

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Purpose: OTHER
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Principal Investigator

Model Details: intervention group vs. control group

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: January 17, 2022
• First Posted: March 24, 2022
• Study Start: April 12, 2021
• Primary Completion: February 14, 2022
• Study Completion: February 14, 2022
• Last Updated: March 24, 2022

Record last verified: 2022-03

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will share
• Shared Documents: SAP, ANALYTIC CODE
• Time Frame: The IPD will become available after data analysis (anticipated: September 2022) and will be shared for at least 10 years.
• Access Criteria: In order to access the IPD, users must agree to the Data Recipient Agreement and Terms of Use of the internet database Psychdata (https://www.psychdata.de/index.php?main=take\&sub=empfang\&lang=eng). These, among other things, exclude commercial use of the data, protect the interests of the data providers, and ensure the anonymity of the individuals studied.

Locations

DE (3)