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Group Training for Psychiatric Residents: Support Group Facilitation and Supervision with Didactics

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Abstract

Objective

Group psychotherapy merits dedicated training during psychiatry residency yet is challenging to implement given competing educational requirements. The authors implemented a voluntary support group training intervention for psychiatry residents consisting of a 6-h didactic series followed by at least 6 months of in vivo group facilitation and supervision. We hypothesized participation would improve residents’ self-reported skill and knowledge in group facilitation.

Methods

Psychiatry residents (PGY I–IV) voluntarily participated in this novel intervention that included a didactic series followed by experiential group facilitation and supervision. To assess confidence and self-reported skill level in group facilitation, residents completed two brief self-report surveys: before the didactic series (pre-intervention) and after group facilitation for at least 6 months (post-intervention). Surveys included Likert scales and open-ended questions. Quantitative data were analyzed with descriptive statistics and open-ended qualitative data were analyzed using thematic analysis.

Results

Twenty-three residents attended 4 to 6 h of didactics between 2016 and 2018. Of these 23 residents, 12 facilitated groups and attended supervision for at least 6 months. Twenty residents responded to pre-intervention surveys and 14 responded to post-intervention surveys. After the intervention, respondents reported a significant increase in knowledge and skills in group facilitation of 88% (15/17) on Likert scale questions.

Conclusions

This study implemented a novel educational intervention to train psychiatric residents in group dynamics and group facilitation. Participation increased residents’ self-reported knowledge and skills in group facilitation. Future directions include incorporating feedback about group curriculum, evaluating resident knowledge and skills using assessment measures, recruiting more group participants, and focusing on peer-to-peer mentoring.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the resident facilitators for their participation.

Funding

This study was not funded; however, resident facilitators received hourly pay for their time from the Office of Graduate Education.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

    Meenakshi S. Denduluri, Wilmarie Cidre Serrano, Jessica Bentzley, Craig Forte & Sallie G. De Golia

  2. Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA

    Jessica A. Gold

  3. The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA

    David Spelber

Authors
  1. Meenakshi S. Denduluri
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  2. Jessica A. Gold
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  3. Wilmarie Cidre Serrano
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  4. David Spelber
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  5. Jessica Bentzley
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  6. Craig Forte
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  7. Sallie G. De Golia
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Meenakshi S. Denduluri.

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On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.

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Denduluri, M.S., Gold, J.A., Serrano, W.C. et al. Group Training for Psychiatric Residents: Support Group Facilitation and Supervision with Didactics. Acad Psychiatry 45, 339–344 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40596-020-01338-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40596-020-01338-2

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