Educational Approaches Using Simulation for Psychiatric Risk Assessment: a Scoping Review.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Psychiatry
• Simulation-Based Learning

Background:

• Assessing patient risk of self-harm or harm to others is crucial for mental health clinicians.
• Simulation offers a promising avenue to improve educational outcomes in psychiatric risk assessment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically review how simulation is utilized for training in risk assessment.
• To map the educational outcomes associated with simulation-based risk assessment training.

Main Methods:

• A systematic scoping review using the Arksey and O'Malley framework was conducted.
• Searches covered studies published before August 2022 on simulation for suicide, self-harm, and violence risk assessment training.

Main Results:

• 58 studies were included from over 21,000 articles.
• Most simulations focused on suicide risk assessment, with a gap in violence risk assessment training.
• Patient actors were the primary simulation modality, with some use of virtual avatars.

Conclusions:

• Simulation can supplement medical curricula for teaching mental health risk assessment.
• Recommendations are provided for educators designing and implementing simulation in mental health education.