Immediate and long-term effects of psychiatric interview training on students' skills

This study [1] evaluated the immediate and longterm effects of systematic training in psychiatric interviewing. Students of Mental Health Sciences (n = 14) were trained first in psychiatric interviewing with regard to mood disorders. Six months later, they received training focusing on psychotic disorders. Effects of instruction were examined by means of a quasi-experimental design. Four dependent variables were measured using patient encounters: process interviewing skills, content-related interviewing skills, recall of relevant patient information and diagnostic accuracy. After the first training, students' performance improved substantially with regard to content-related interview skills and recall of relevant patient information. Performance, however, decreased after the 6 months during which students received no training. The second training did not improve performance. The results indicated that psychiatric interviewing can be taught effectively in a short period with regard to mood disorders, but students may need more practice in conducting a psychiatric interview with psychotic patients.