An Evaluation of Associations Between Psychiatry Clerkship Timing and NAMI Course Outcomes
Description
Introduction: The National Alliance of Mental Illness Provider Education Program (NAMI PEP) is integrated into the Des Moines University DO curriculum to reduce bias towards mental illness. All third-year students attended the course in January 2025, with only some students completing their psychiatry clerkship beforehand. We conducted a longitudinal study to investigate whether students’ perspectives and NAMI PEP program outcomes differed depending on their psychiatry clerkship timing.
Methods: Third-year medical students were asked to participate in optional research on the NAMI PEP, completing questionnaires evaluating their attitudes, confidence, and overall perspectives on providing psychiatric care. Surveys were conducted prior to the NAMI PEP (baseline) and at 3-month and 6-month follow-up periods to assess changes. This study focused on students’ confidence integrating psychiatric care into routine care (ACIP) and stigmatizing attitudes (OMS-HC).
Results: Independent samples t-tests suggested that confidence and stigma significantly differed across students based on timing of their psychiatry clerkship. Students who completed their psychiatry clerkship pre-NAMI PEP had higher baseline confidence integrating psychiatry into routine care, yet also higher stigmatizing attitudes than students who had not. Changes in confidence and stigma at the 3-month and 6-month times also differed across clerkship groups. Cohen’s d effect sizes were primarily in the medium range.
Conclusion: The data suggests that students’ confidence integrating psychiatric care and stigma differed depending on timing of psychiatry clerkship. When evaluating longitudinal outcomes of the NAMI PEP, it is important to take the clerkship timing into effect.
Citation Information
Thakkar, Poojan and Van Liew, Julia R., "An Evaluation of Associations Between Psychiatry Clerkship Timing and NAMI Course Outcomes" (2026). Office of Research DMU Research Symposium. 39.
https://digitalcommons.dmu.edu/researchsymposium/2025rs/2025abstracts/39
An Evaluation of Associations Between Psychiatry Clerkship Timing and NAMI Course Outcomes
Introduction: The National Alliance of Mental Illness Provider Education Program (NAMI PEP) is integrated into the Des Moines University DO curriculum to reduce bias towards mental illness. All third-year students attended the course in January 2025, with only some students completing their psychiatry clerkship beforehand. We conducted a longitudinal study to investigate whether students’ perspectives and NAMI PEP program outcomes differed depending on their psychiatry clerkship timing.
Methods: Third-year medical students were asked to participate in optional research on the NAMI PEP, completing questionnaires evaluating their attitudes, confidence, and overall perspectives on providing psychiatric care. Surveys were conducted prior to the NAMI PEP (baseline) and at 3-month and 6-month follow-up periods to assess changes. This study focused on students’ confidence integrating psychiatric care into routine care (ACIP) and stigmatizing attitudes (OMS-HC).
Results: Independent samples t-tests suggested that confidence and stigma significantly differed across students based on timing of their psychiatry clerkship. Students who completed their psychiatry clerkship pre-NAMI PEP had higher baseline confidence integrating psychiatry into routine care, yet also higher stigmatizing attitudes than students who had not. Changes in confidence and stigma at the 3-month and 6-month times also differed across clerkship groups. Cohen’s d effect sizes were primarily in the medium range.
Conclusion: The data suggests that students’ confidence integrating psychiatric care and stigma differed depending on timing of psychiatry clerkship. When evaluating longitudinal outcomes of the NAMI PEP, it is important to take the clerkship timing into effect.
