Mental health and medical education

Community psychologists have an opportunity to develop relationships with individuals and their families and develop a longitudinal view of the experience of mental illness. This is often not afforded to other health professionals who see people in acute phases of their illness. These perspectives and associations can be used to provide quality improvement to the sector through advocacy and education. Medical educators are also seeking new educational experiences that foster both quality learning and postive attitudes to people with mental illness. This dissertation explores the formation of an educational tutorial using a dialogue based methodology and the narratives of local families to augment the learning and clinical placements of under graduate medical students. The aims of the project were to establish whether this education experience would affect students’attitudes to people with mental illness and their experiences of their mental health placement. Outcomes were in reviewing the formation of attitudes to people with mental illness and in what constitutes quality contact and learning in education settings.