Development and Pilot Test of an Edutainment-Based Curriculum for Addressing Misinformation in the Healthcare...

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Public Health Communication
• Behavioral Science

Background:

• Infectious disease-related mis- and disinformation (IDRMD) significantly influences public health behaviors.
• Motivational Interviewing (MI) is a proven strategy for healthcare providers to address patient concerns and misinformation.
• Physician Assistant (PA) students require training to effectively manage IDRMD with patients.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and pilot test an innovative, edutainment-based curriculum for PA students focused on identifying and addressing IDRMD.
• To evaluate the curriculum's effectiveness in enhancing students' skills and confidence in applying MI techniques.
• To assess the potential of an edutainment approach for training health science students in managing health misinformation.

Main Methods:

• A workshop curriculum was designed incorporating didactic sessions, analysis of TV medical drama clips (ER, Chicago Med), and script rewriting exercises.
• Participants (n=35) completed pre- and post-curriculum surveys to assess changes in IDRMD identification and MI approach comfort.
• Qualitative analysis of open-ended responses was conducted to explore anticipated behavior changes.

Main Results:

• Post-curriculum, participants showed significant improvements in identifying IDRMD (p=0.04) and comfort with MI (p<0.001).
• Nearly half of participants (49%) indicated an intention to engage patients with empathy, a key MI principle.
• The curriculum demonstrated high participant engagement (97% response rate).

Conclusions:

• An edutainment-based curriculum effectively improved PA students' ability to manage patients expressing IDRMD.
• The curriculum's engaging format and focus on empathy show promise for broader application in health science education.
• This scalable and adaptable model offers a novel approach to combating health misinformation in clinical settings.