Shared Living Experiences by Physicians have a Positive Impact on Mental Health Attitudes and Stigma among Medical Students: A Mixed-Methods Study

Introduction: Medical culture can make trainees feel like there is neither room for mistakes, nor space for personal shortcomings in the makeup of physicians. A dearth of role models who can exemplify that it is acceptable to need support compounds barriers to help-seeking once students struggle. We conducted a mixed-methods study to assess the impact of physicians sharing their living experiences with medical students. Methods: Second-year medical students participated, through synchronized videoconferencing, in an intervention consisting of 3 physicians who shared personal histories of vulnerability (e.g. failure on high-stakes exams; immigration and acculturation stress; and personal psychopathology, including treatment and recovery), followed by facilitated, small-group discussions. For the quantitative component, students completed the Opening Minds to Stigma Scale for Health Care Providers (OMS-HC) before and after the intervention. For the qualitative component, we conducted focus groups to explore the study intervention. We analyzed anonymized transcripts using thematic analysis aided by NVivo software. Results: We invited all students in the class (n = 61, 46% women) to participate in the research component. Among the 53 participants (87% of the class), OMS-HC scores improved after the intervention (P = .002), driven by the Attitudes (P = .003) and Disclosure (P