Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2017 Nov 21;17(1):225.
doi: 10.1186/s12909-017-1055-4.

Medical student attitudes and educational interventions to prevent neurophobia: a longitudinal study

Lisa Shiels  1 , Pratish Majmundar  1 , Aleksander Zywot  2   3 , John Sobotka  1 , Christine S M Lau  1 , Tuula O Jalonen  1
Affiliations

Medical student attitudes and educational interventions to prevent neurophobia: a longitudinal study

Lisa Shiels et al. BMC Med Educ. .

Abstract

Background: With an aging American population, the burden of neurologic disease is intensifying and the decline in neurology residents and practicing neurologists is leaving these patients helpless and unable to find care. 'Neurophobia', a chronic illness that begins early in medical school, has been identified as a cause for the low number of neurology residents.

Methods: A longitudinal study surveyed medical students at the beginning of their first year (M1) and then again at the beginning of their second year (M2). Three neuroscience educational interventions were studied: team based learning (TBL), case based teaching (CBT), and problem based learning (PBL). Participants provided self-reported neurophobia levels, attitudes about neuroscience, and the effectiveness of educational interventions.

Results: A total of 446 students during M1 and 206 students during M2 participated in the survey. A significant change in self-reported neurophobia (p = 0.035) was observed from 19% in M1 to 26% in M2. Neuroscience knowledge and confidence managing a neurologic condition also significantly increased (p < 0.001 and p = 0.038 respectively). Perceived interest, difficulty, and desire to pursue a career in neuroscience did not a change significantly. Majority of students perceived CBT (76%), TBL (56%), and PBL (66%) beneficial. Only CBT demonstrated a statistical difference (p = 0.026) when stratified by self-reported change in neurophobia.

Conclusion: An increase in neurophobia after completing a neuroscience was observed but the prevalence rate of 26% was lower than previous studies. Knowledge about neuroscience increased significantly and educational interventions were considered beneficial by students. Thus, interventions that increase knowledge and decrease neurophobia can lead to an increase in students pursuing neurology residencies.

Keywords: Caribbean; Case based teaching; Neuroscience; Problem based learning; Team based learning.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

IRB approval from SGU IRB Board #14037.

Written consent was obtained prior to administration of surveys.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

References

    1. Lim ECH, Seet RCS. Demystifying neurology: preventing “neurophobia” among medical students. Nat Clin Pract Neurol. 2008;4:462–463. doi: 10.1038/ncpneuro0849. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Jozefowicz RF. Neurophobia: the fear of neurology among medical students. Arch Neurol. 1994;51:328–329. doi: 10.1001/archneur.1994.00540160018003. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Solorzano GE, Józefowicz RF. Neurophobia: a chronic disease of medical students. Neurology. 2015;85:116–117. doi: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000001751. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Ridsdale L, Massey R, Clark L. Preventing neurophobia in medical students, and so future doctors. Pract Neurol. 2007;7:116–123. - PubMed
    1. Schon F, Hart P, Fernandez C. Is clinical neurology really so difficult? J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2002;72:557–559. doi: 10.1136/jnnp.72.5.557. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources