Abstract
Perinatal mood and anxiety disorders (PMADs) are one of the most common complications in the peripartum period. The Council for Resident Education in Obstetrics and Gynecology (CREOG) includes diagnosis and management of PMADs as educational objectives, but no formal curriculum for trainees exists. Consequently, providers often struggle to identify and treat these disorders. We aimed to assess the effects of a pilot lecture series on obstetrics and gynecology (OBGYN) residents’ knowledge and comfort in the diagnosis and management of PMADs. As part of an educational cross-sectional study, a Qualtrics survey was distributed to OBGYN residents at a single center in New York City. Residents were exposed to a 10-h virtual lecture series on perinatal mental health, and a follow-up survey was distributed. Initially, few residents were familiar with screening tools (45%), and few felt comfortable providing resources (5–45%), diagnosing (0–55%), and managing (0–30%) patients with the PMADs presented. After the pilot, improvement was seen in residents’ familiarity with screening tools (86%), and their comfort in providing resources (11–67%) and diagnosing (11–78%) PMADs. However, comfort in management did not improve (0–22%). The majority of trainees (75%) found the virtual setting appropriate. There is a deficit in OBGYN residents’ knowledge and comfort regarding diagnosis and discussion of PMADs that can be improved with a focused lecture series, though a greater emphasis on treatment is needed. The majority of OBGYN learners found the virtual setting conducive to learning this material. Their preferences should guide the development of a formal, national curriculum.
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Funding
This work was funded in part by the Picker Gold Graduate Medical Education (GME) Challenge Grant, which provides 18-month grants to support the research and development of innovative projects within the graduate medical education setting.
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All the authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by Lindsay Marty, Olivia Myrick, and Allison Perelman. Grant proposal was prepared by Amalia Kotlyar. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Lindsay Marty and all the authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All the authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Marty, L., Myrick, O., Perelman, A. et al. Filling a gap in OBGYN education: a pilot lecture series on perinatal mental health. Arch Womens Ment Health 27, 137–143 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00737-023-01386-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00737-023-01386-1