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Diagnosis, PsychiatricDiSkONCT05294094

Learning Diagnostic Skills Online (German: Diagnostik Skills Online Lernen)

A study testing blended learning and teaching format as usual in people with Diagnosis, Psychiatric, run by Ruhr University of Bochum at 3 sites in Germany.

Completed

Finished. The study has ended and is not enrolling. Results may be posted on the official record.

Official record
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Trial summary

Clinical psychologists give diagnoses to their patients everyday and these diagnoses determine if and how these patients will be treated. Misdiagnoses can have severely adverse effects. Read more about this study

Who is it for?
Ages 18 years and olderHealthy volunteers can take part
Conditions the study is for
Diagnosis, Psychiatric
What is being tested?
blended learning and teaching format as usual
Could I receive a placebo?
No, everyone receives an active treatment
How many people
350 participants
Where
3 sitesGermany
Study dates
12 Apr 2021to 14 Feb 2022
Phase
Interventional
Are there results?
None posted in the registry

Key requirements

Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.

  • Ages 18 years and older
  • All sexes
  • Healthy volunteers accepted
  • Adult, Older adult

Who may be able to join

  • Psychology bachelor students of a cooperating university (Ruhr-University of Bochum, University of Cologne, Philipps-University of Marburg)

Who cannot join

  • previous participation in a diagnostic seminar

Trial locations and contacts

3 sites in 1 country.

Germany3 sites

  • Ruhr-University Bochum

    Bochum, North Rhine-Westphalia, 44787

  • University of Cologne

    Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, 50969

  • Philipps University of Marburg

    Marburg, Hesse, 35032

Other trials in Germany

About this study

Clinical psychologists give diagnoses to their patients everyday and these diagnoses determine if and how these patients will be treated. Misdiagnoses can have severely adverse effects. Therefore, teaching diagnostic skills to clinical psychologists is very important during their undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate training.

One major problem in teaching diagnostics is that there are too few opportunities to practice with real patients due to legal and ethical restrictions. The aim of the DiSkO-project is, therefore, the development and evaluation of a blended learning course to teach diagnostic skills to (future) clinical psychologists.

Read more

In order to make the diagnostic training more practical a series of video files of simulated diagnostic interviews will be presented in an online course. These video files will be divided in different segments and presented with questions and automatic feedback. In a second step, learners will make a transfer to a real face-to-face diagnostic situation with an actor simulating a patient.

The DiSkO- course will be evaluated in a randomized-controlled trial at three universities in Germany (Ruhr-University of Bochum, Philipps University of Marburg, University of Cologne). To test whether students are equally good in administering a diagnostic interview after taking the DiSkO-course compared to students who took part in a traditional face-to-face university course a noninferiority-analysis will be conducted. Furthermore, diagnostic knowledge and attitudes toward evidence-based assessment after taking part in DiSkO vs. the face-to-face course will be compared.

The investigators aim at disseminating the open source DiSkO-course to other universities or institutions of tertiary education in Germany with the aim of improving the diagnostic training for students, better prepare them for their clinical practice and thus improve patients' health care in Germany.

Being tested
blended learning, teaching format as usual
Keywords
clinical interview, blended learning, diagnostic interview
Medical subject headings
Mental Disorders

What participants receive

What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.

  • blended learningBehavioural

    The blended learning course consists of two parts. The first part is an online course with case studies and instructional videos providing basic clinical diagnostic knowledge and the ability to conduct structured clinical interviews. In the second part, learners get to discuss the course content with a teacher, practice their interviewing skills with other students and make a transfer to a real face-to-face diagnostic situation with an actor simulating a patient.

  • teaching format as usualBehavioural

    The teaching format as usual represents the usual teaching of clinical diagnostic knowledge and the ability to conduct structured clinical interviews. Also in this intervention students also have the opportunity to discuss the course content with a teacher, practice their interviewing skills with other students and conduct a structured interview with an actor simulating a patient.

Study groups in NCT05294094
Study groupRoleWhat they receive
intervention groupExperimentalblended learning
Receives: Behavioral: blended learning
control groupActive comparatorTeaching format as usual
Receives: Behavioral: teaching format as usual

What is being measured

The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.

  1. Behavioral Measure: Performance in a structured interview

    Conducting a 15 minute section of a structured interview with a patient played by an actor. This interview is videotaped and then rated by independent evaluators regarding e.g. rules of correct implementation and clincial interviewing skills.

    Measured: 13 weeks

Secondary outcomes (9)

  1. Knowledge Test A

    A test of basic clinical diagnostic knowledge developed and previously piloted by the study authors. Using the data from the piloting, two parallel 15-Item versions (A and B) were created, which students answered before and after the intervention.

    Measured: 1 week

  2. Knowledge Test B

    A test of basic clinical diagnostic knowledge developed and previously piloted by the study authors. Using the data from the piloting, two parallel 15-Item versions (A and B) were created, which students answered before and after the intervention.

    Measured: 14 weeks

  3. Münster Questionnaire for the Evaluation of Seminars - revised (MFE-Sr; Thielsch & Hirschfeld, 2010)

    7-point Likert scale (min.: 1, max.:7)

    The following 6 Items from the MFE-Sr were used:

    Item Number 14: "The content of this course was too difficult for me." Item Number 15: "The pace of teaching was too fast for me." Item Number 16: "The time commitment associated with the course overwhelmed me." Item Number 25: "I learned a lot in this course." Item Number 26: "I would recommend this course to other students."

    Item 14-16: higher values indicate worse outcome, Item 25-26: higher values indicate better outcome

    Measured: 14 weeks

  4. Website-Clarity, Likeability, Informativeness, and Credibility (Web-CLIC; Thielsch & Hirschfeld, 2019)

    A 12-item questionnaire measuring a users' subjective view on web content, regarding its clarity, likeability, informativeness and credibility. The whole 12-item scale and one additionally created item regarding the credibility ("I completely trusted the content in DiSkO") were used.

    7-point Likert scale (min.: 1, max.:7) higher values indicate better outcome

    Measured: 14 weeks

  5. Brief scale for teaching evaluation (Zumbach, Spinath, Schahn, Friedrich & Kögel, 2007)

    The following 3 Items were used:

    Item Number 1: "The subject matter was appropriately illustrated (e.g. by examples, visualizations, etc.)." Item Number 2: "The course was clearly structured." Item Number 3: "The learning objectives of the course were clearly defined."

    7-point Likert scale (min.: 1, max.:7) higher values indicate better outcome

    Measured: 14 weeks

  6. Usability Metric for User Experience - Lite (UMUX-Lite; Lewis et al., 2013)

    A 2-item scale assessing perceived usability.

    7-point Likert scale (min.: 1, max.:7) higher values indicate better outcome

    Measured: 14 weeks

  7. Visual Aesthetics of Websites Inventory - Short (VisAWI-S; Moshagen & Thielsch, 2013)

    A 4-item scale measuring subjectively perceived aesthetics. The 4-item scale and one additionally created item ("DiSkO is designed to be visually appealing") were used.

    7-point Likert scale (min.: 1, max.:7) higher values indicate better outcome

    Measured: 14 weeks

  8. Overall impression

    One item using the german school grading system ranging from 1 (very good) to 6 (unsatisfactory):

    "Overall: I give the course an overall grade of ..."

    Measured: 14 weeks

  9. Acceptance of structured interviews questionnaire (Bruchmüller et al., 2011)

    A 11-item questionnaire measuring the estimated patient satisfaction with structured interviews.

    Item 1:

    visual analogue scale (0-100) higher values indicate better outcome

    Item 2-11:

    4-point Likert scale (min.: 0, max.:3)

    Item 2,3,4,5 and 8 higher values indicate worse outcome Item 6,7,9,10 and 11 higher values indicate better outcome

    Measured: 14 weeks

Timeline

From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.

  1. First posted24 Mar 2022
  2. Study start12 Apr 2021
  3. Primary completion14 Feb 2022
  4. Study completion14 Feb 2022

Resources

More details

For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.

Study design
Study type
Interventional
Phase
Phase N/A
Primary purpose
Other
Allocation
Randomised
Intervention model
Parallel groups
Model description
intervention group vs. control group
Masking
Single blind
Who is masked
Outcomes assessor
Enrolment
350 participants (actual)
IDs, dates and publications
ClinicalTrials.gov ID
NCT05294094
Sponsor's protocol ID
16DHB3010
Acronym
DiSkO
Status last verified
Mar 2022
First submitted
17 Jan 2022
Last updated
24 Mar 2022
Results posted
No
Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
Individual data sharing
Yes: All anonymized IPD will be shared with the exception of demographic data which, due to rare constellations, entail a risk of deanonymization of individual participants. The IPD will be made available via the Internet database Psychdata (https://www.psychdata.de) of the Leibnitz Center for Psychological Information and Documentation.

Publications

  • Bonnin G, Krober S, Schneider S, Margraf J, Pflug V, Gerlach AL, Slotta T, Christiansen H, Albrecht B, Chavanon ML, Hirschfeld G, In-Albon T, Thielsch MT, von Brachel R. A Blended Learning Course on the Diagnostics of Mental Disorders: Multicenter Cluster Randomized Noninferiority Trial. J Med Internet Res. 2024 Nov 27;26:e54176. doi: 10.2196/54176.

    PubMed 39602218

Questions about this trial

What is this clinical trial studying?

A study testing blended learning and teaching format as usual in people with Diagnosis, Psychiatric, run by Ruhr University of Bochum at 3 sites in Germany.

The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.

Who may be eligible to take part?

The sponsor lists 1 inclusion and 1 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.

Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?

The record says: finished, as of the sponsor's last update on 24 Mar 2022. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.

Where is the study taking place?

The record lists 3 sites in Germany. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.

What are the possible benefits and risks?

They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.

Are results available for this study?

The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.

How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?

The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.

What does the primary outcome measure?

Behavioral Measure: Performance in a structured interview (time frame: 13 weeks). It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.

Where can I read the original study information?

On the ClinicalTrials.gov record for NCT05294094, which also lists 1 linked publication.

Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?

No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.

How often is this information updated?

AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 24 Mar 2022.

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