Psychology-Led Integration of Psychosocial Skills Groups Into Physician Assistant Student Family Medicine Training

Primary care providers need to be able to effectively recognize and treat common mental health concerns. Foundational mental health training is typically embedded into physician assistant (PA) didactic training; while essential, students in didactic training may not yet recognize the relevance and clinical nuances of these presentations. To better prepare university-based PA students to address mental health in primary care, a 4-session interdisciplinary psychosocial skills enhancement group was developed for second-year students and conducted over 3 years. This weekly virtual group was facilitated by a doctoral-level student in clinical psychology and attended by PA students in their family medicine rotation (n = 204). Students presented patient cases, provided feedback to fellow students, developed case conceptualizations, and engaged in didactics.

After completing the group, participants received a survey assessing their satisfaction, perceived improvements in behavioral health knowledge and comfort, and suggestions for refining the group. Descriptive analyses and qualitative content analyses were conducted.

Survey results were overall positive, indicating that students felt more prepared to treat behavioral health conditions and enjoyed having a group facilitator from outside their program with expertise in psychology. Qualitative results suggested the benefits of increased reflective practice, improved peer support, and appreciation for didactic psychosocial content.

Given the prevalence of behavioral health concerns in primary care, incorporating an interdisciplinary training and supervision component may be an effective way of increasing clinical competencies, enhancing professional well-being, and better meeting future patient needs.