Evidence map›Paper›PMID 28390054›Full record

ArticleAcademic psychiatry : the journal of the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training and the Association for Academic Psychiatry2017

Virtual Patients in a Behavioral Medicine Massive Open Online Course (MOOC): A Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis of Participants' Perceptions.

Anne H Berman, Gabriele Biguet, Natalia Stathakarou, Beata Westin-Hägglöf, Kerstin Jeding, Cormac McGrath, Nabil Zary, Andrzej A Kononowicz

Open access · hybridAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Academic psychiatry : the journal of the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training and the Association for Academic Psychiatry, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
9citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
10.4field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

9 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 88 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Virtual patients in undergraduate psychiatry education: a systematic review and synthesis.Advances in health sciences education : theory and practice · 2024
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.

Anne H BermanKarolinska Institutet, Center for Psychiatry Research, Stockholm, Sweden. anne.h.berman@ki.se.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7709-0230
Gabriele BiguetKarolinska Institutet, Center for Psychiatry Research, Stockholm, Sweden.
Natalia StathakarouKarolinska Institutet, Center for Psychiatry Research, Stockholm, Sweden.
Beata Westin-HägglöfStockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.
Kerstin JedingThe Stress Research Clinic, Stockholm, Sweden.
Cormac McGrathKarolinska Institutet, Center for Psychiatry Research, Stockholm, Sweden.
Nabil ZaryKarolinska Institutet, Center for Psychiatry Research, Stockholm, Sweden.
Andrzej A KononowiczJagiellonian University Medical College, Krakow, Poland.
Karolinska Institutet · SEJagiellonian University · PLStockholm University · SE

Funding

International Society of Behavioral Medicine (ISBM) n/aKarolinska Institutet (SE) N/a
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveThe purpose of this article is to explore learners' perceptions of using virtual patients in a behavioral medicine Massive Open Online Course (MOOCs) and thereby describe innovative ways of disseminating knowledge in health-related areas.

methodsA 5-week MOOC on behavioral medicine was hosted on the edX platform. The authors developed two branched virtual patients consisting of video recordings of a live standardized patient, with multiple clinical decision points and narration unfolding depending on learners' choices. Students interacted with the virtual patients to treat stress and sleep problems. Answers to the exit survey and participant comments from the discussion forum were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively.

resultsIn total, 19,236 participants enrolled in the MOOC, out of which 740 received the final certificate. The virtual patients were completed by 2317 and 1640 participants respectively. Among survey respondents (n = 442), 83.1% agreed that the virtual patient exercise was helpful. The qualitative analysis resulted in themes covering what it was like to work with the virtual patient, with subthemes on learner-centered education, emotions/eustress, game comparisons, what the participants learned, what surprised them, how confident participants felt about applying interventions in practice, suggestions for improvement, and previous experiences of virtual patients.

conclusionsStudents were enthusiastic about interacting with the virtual patients as a means to apply new knowledge about behavioral medicine interventions. The most common suggestion was to incorporate more interactive cases with various levels of complexity. Further research should include patient outcomes and focus on interprofessional aspects of learning with virtual patients in a MOOC.

Indexed as

Students, MedicalVirtual RealityAdultBehavioral MedicineEducation, DistanceEducation, MedicalHumansQualitative ResearchSimulation TrainingBehavioral medicineCase-based learningEvaluationMOOCQualitative content analysisVirtual patient

Identifiers

PMID28390054
PMCPMC5617876
OpenAlexW2604327641

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.