527 - Synchronous Virtual Instruction Versus Asynchronous Online Module for Resident Anxiety Education

Anxiety disorders are the most prevalent childhood mental illness and thus an essential topic in pediatric resident behavioral health curriculum. The early onset of anxiety disorders compared to other mental health diagnoses makes this topic especially important for intern education and serves as a foundation for future behavioral health curricular elements. Online learning was necessary during the COVID-19 pandemic, but content delivery was mixed between synchronous and asynchronous methods across our institution.

Objective:

In providing anxiety education annually to a large group of residents, there are benefits and challenges to both synchronous and asynchronous methods. As we are developing a new behavioral health curriculum, we sought to determine if learning efficacy was equivalent between both methods of online content delivery for pediatric interns.

Design/Methods:

Pediatric interns (N=49) were assigned to an educational session on pediatric anxiety during two consecutive academic years. The intern class of 2020-2021 completed a synchronous, virtual session taught using PowerPoint with small group discussion. The intern class of 2021-2022 completed an asynchronous online module during academic sessions. The online module contained a mix of text, narrated text, graphics, and videos. Each group completed a 10-question pre- and post-test on anxiety content knowledge. The synchronous data was collected via REDCap and the asynchronous data was collected via an institutional service portal. An institutional review board determined an IRB exempt status.

Results:

The 2020-2021 synchronous (N=40) class demonstrated an improvement of 20% (p< 0.001) from pre- (70%) to post-test (84%). The 2021-2022 asynchronous class (N=46) demonstrated a 25% (p< 0.001) improvement from pre- (65%) to post-test (81%). Both groups had higher post-test scores, with the asynchronous group having a 5% greater change from pre- to post-test.

Conclusion(s):

Anxiety online curriculum can increase knowledge of the most prevalent childhood mental health diagnosis early in pediatric training. Either synchronous or asynchronous curricular delivery methods can be used for anxiety education with efficacy, but asynchronous learning more so. Asynchronous learning allows for self-directed and self-paced learning suited to adult learners.