The effectiveness of online virtual teaching for improving neurophobia in pre-clinical medical students

ABSTRACT

Objectives: To assess the effectiveness of virtual peer teaching in easing neurophobia among preclinical medical students at Cardiff University. Design: Quantitative research. Subjects: 94 Year two medical students at Cardiff University. Methods: An evaluative study was conducted to assess the prevalence of neurophobia and the effects of our teaching on it. This was assessed by comparing confidence, anxiety, and neurophobia levels pre-and post-session on a 5-point Likert scale. The quantitative data were collected based on thematic questions (anatomy, physiology, radiology, bone disease, and pathology) relevant to the session with only one correct answer for each question. Results: 62.7% of the students found neurological and neurosurgical concepts the most difficult to learn in medical school (3.70 ± 1.77). We found that the reported scores of neurophobia (3.22 ± 1.60 to 1.39 ± 1.72) and anxiety (3.59 ± 1.71 to 2.99 ± 1.58) decreased, while confidence (2.79 ± 1.60 to 3.71 ± 1.77) increased after one virtual teaching session. We also saw an overall average increase in knowledge across all five quantitative domains by 20.7%. Conclusions: Neurophobia remains rife amongst medical students, even in their preclinical years. Despite difficulties with face-to-face teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic, our results strongly indicate that virtual teaching sessions can effectively alleviate neurophobia and improve clinical neuroscience knowledge.1,2.