Online-Based and Technology-Assisted Psychiatric Education for Trainees: Scoping Review

The concept of online learning in medical education has been gaining traction, but whether it can accommodate the complexity of higher-level psychiatric training remains uncertain.

This review aims to identify the various online-based and technology-assisted educational methods used in psychiatric training and to examine the outcomes in terms of trainees' knowledge, skills, and levels of confidence or preference in using such technologies.

A comprehensive search was conducted in PubMed, Cochrane, PsycINFO, Scopus, and ERIC to identify relevant literature from 1991 until 2024. Studies in English and those that had English translations were identified. Studies that incorporated or explored the use of online-based or technology-assisted learning as part of psychiatric training in trainees and had outcomes of interest related to changes in the level of knowledge or skills, changes in the level of preference or confidence in using online-based or technology-assisted learning, and feedback of participants were included. Studies were excluded if they were conducted on populations excluding psychiatric trainees or residents, were mainly descriptive of the concept of the intervention without any relevant study outcome, were not in English or did not have English translations, or were review articles.

A total of 82 articles were included in the review. The articles were divided into 3 phases: prior to 2015, 2015 to 2019 (prepandemic), and 2020 onward (postpandemic). Articles mainly originated from Western countries, and there was a significant increase in relevant studies after the pandemic. There were 5 methods identified, namely videoconference, online modules/e-learning, virtual patients, software/applications, and social media. These were applied in various aspects of psychiatric education, such as theory knowledge, skills training, psychotherapy supervision, and information retrieval.

Videoconference-based learning was the most widely implemented approach, followed by online modules and virtual patients. Despite the outcome heterogeneity and small sample sizes in the included studies, the application of such approaches may have utility in terms of knowledge and skills attainment and could be beneficial for the training of future psychiatrists, especially those in underserved low- and middle-income countries.