Medical students’ preferences regarding Psychiatry teaching: a comparison of different lecture delivery methods

This article was migrated. The article was not marked as recommended. Background: Integration of e-learning and digital resources into university medical education is growing. However, there is a lack of systematic evaluation and comparison of different teaching methods. This study examined medical student feedback regarding Psychiatry lectures using routinely collected administrative data, comparing different lecture delivery methods. Method: A quasi-experimental study involving undergraduate medical students undertaking their Psychiatry term at UNSW Sydney was conducted over a three year period. Lectures were delivered in class face-to-face, or via video recording. Data on student ratings of perceived usefulness of the lecture was collated. Differences in students' ratings between lecture delivery methods were examined with independent sample students' t-test in SPSS. Results: Across the three years, four lectures on identical topics with the same pre-prepared content were delivered using different delivery methods, two face-to-face and two via video recording, to 102 medical students. Medical students rated face-to-face lectures to be significantly more useful than video lectures (t (86.9) = 4.902 (p<0.001)). Conclusion: Psychiatry lectures delivered in class were perceived by medical students as more useful than video recordings of the same content. This suggests traditional teaching methods are still valued by students and supports their continued use in clinical Psychiatry education.