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A Mixed-Methods SWOT Analysis of a Medical Student Balint Group Programme
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 July 2023
Abstract
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Aims
Balint groups explore the clinician-patient relationship, with benefits for empathy, resilience, and interpersonal skills. Their use with medical students is increasing, but more research is needed to understand how their benefit, feasibility and accessibility can be optimised. We aimed to explore this over a one-year pilot of a medical student Balint group programme.
Methods
An explanatory sequential mixed methods design was used. Eight medical student Balint groups ran for six weeks during 2022–2023, with 90 students participating. Students completed quantitative and qualitative feedback at the end of each cohort. Themes were identified using qualitative content analysis. Balint group leaders kept reflective session notes and used these alongside student feedback to undertake a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats analysis of the programme.
Results
Students reported a neutral to slightly positive experience of the groups. Strengths were coded as containment, learning, and community identity. Students identified weaknesses due to pace, facilitation, and anxiety. Threats to the future success of the Balint group programme were related to engagement and the group being perceived as inauspicious and intimidating. Potential opportunities to develop the Balint group programme included widening participation and sharpening focus. The strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats identified by the group leaders were in line with those of the students, but also acknowledged the broad range of ethico-legal material discussed by students, timetabling and organisational challenges. A range of opportunities were identified for how the Balint group programme could optimally enrich the clinical curriculum.
Conclusion
Integrating successful Balint groups into the medical school curriculum is challenging on individual and organisational levels. However, students perceive value in these groups, and they provide a unique space to combine learning and emotional support with personal, professional and community development. Ongoing consideration is needed to optimally and sustainably incorporate Balint groups within the undergraduate medical curriculum.
- Type
- Education and Training
- Information
- BJPsych Open , Volume 9 , Supplement S1: Abstracts from the RCPsych International Congress 2023, 10–13 July , July 2023 , pp. S20 - S21
- Creative Commons
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. This does not need to be placed under each abstract, just each page is fine.- Copyright
- Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Royal College of Psychiatrists
Footnotes
Abstracts were reviewed by the RCPsych Academic Faculty rather than by the standard BJPsych Open peer review process and should not be quoted as peer-reviewed by BJPsych Open in any subsequent publication.
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