Adolescent Depression: An Interactive Case-Based Session for Medical Students

The session was designed as part of a yearlong elective within the Association of American Medical Colleges' Education in Pediatrics Across the Continuum (EPAC) pilot at the University of California, San Francisco. The EPAC pilot aims for longitudinal pediatric education across the medical school and pediatric residency years, with specific emphasis on competency-based advancement. The goal of the elective is to cultivate students' early interest in pediatrics.

This is an interactive case-based session for medical students on the clinical presentation and initial evaluation of adolescent depression. We developed this session based on an informal needs assessment at our local institution as well as prior research documenting the minimal time allocated to child and adolescent psychiatry in medical school curricula. The 80-minute interactive case-based format integrates knowledge and clinical experiences while requiring minimal equipment and preparation.

The session was administered at the University of California, San Francisco, in 2015 to 22 students. Fourteen participants completed evaluation questions (64% response rate). Of responders, 92%-100% thought the session was very or extremely effective at meeting the stated objectives, was interactive, had appropriate time allocated, and was very or extremely helpful at reinforcing objectives from the medical school curriculum. Thirteen participants completed postsession knowledge acquisition questions and performed better than controls (90% vs. 75%), but the difference was not statistically significant.

Other medical schools could easily administer this session as presented or adapt it to a different target audience or for different time constraints. It is an effective, interactive, well-paced, and helpful means of introducing to medical students a topic that is relevant for anyone going into pediatrics. Likewise, it helps to rectify the lack of child and adolescent psychiatry content in most medical school programs, and it aligns with the movement in undergraduate medical education towards more clinically integrated, inquiry-based curricula with attention to professional development.