A Curriculum on Digital Psychiatry for a US-Based Psychiatry Residency Training Program: Pilot Implementation Study

Abstract

Background Digital psychiatry, defined as the application of health technologies to the prevention, assessment, and treatment of mental health illnesses, is a growing field. Interest in the clinical use of these technologies continues to grow. However, psychiatric trainees receive limited or no formal education on the topic. Objective This study aims to pilot a curriculum on digital psychiatry for a US-based psychiatry residency training program and examine the change in learner confidence regarding appraisal and clinical recommendation of digital mental health apps. Methods Two 60-minute sessions were presented through a web-based platform to postgraduate year 2-4 residents training in psychiatry at a US-based adult psychiatry residency program. Learner confidence was assessed using pre- and postsession surveys. Results Matched pre- and postsession quizzes showed improved confidence in multiple domains aligning with the course objectives. This included the structured appraisal of digital mental health apps (P=.03), assessment of a patient’s digital health literacy (P=.01), formal recommendation of digital health tools (P=.03), and prescription of digital therapeutics to patients (P=.03). Though an improvement from baseline, mean ratings for confidence did not exceed “somewhat comfortable” on any of the above measures. Conclusions Our study shows the feasibility of implementing a digital psychiatry curriculum for residents in multiple levels of training. We also identified an opportunity to increase learner confidence in the appraisal and clinical use of digital mental health apps through the use of a formal curriculum.