Tutorial Group and Mental Health in Medical Education

ABSTRACT

This study aimed to investigate the presence of mental health content on the curriculum of the first four years of the medical degree at the Faculty of Medical Sciences and Health at the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo (FCMS PUC-SP). By means of a quantitative, descriptive, and document-based study, we evaluated the mental health content in the learning objectives of problems used as part of the teaching and learning strategy known as ‘tutorial groups’. The results showed that less than 15% of the problems studied in the weekly tutorial sessions featured mental health content in their learning objectives for the first, second and fourth years of the course, while in the third year, such content only featured in 36% of problems. The research does not allow us to make conclusions on the degree to which mental health issues are explored, or the learning on them, but does point to the neglect of mental health issues pervading medical education on clinical and surgical diseases.

Clinical Competence; Psychiatry/Education; Curriculum; Medical Education; Problem-Based Learning; Mental Health