Enhancement of role modelling in clinical educators: A randomized controlled trial

Abstract

Introduction: Role models have an important impact on the professional behavior of medical students. Previous investigations help us understand how to improve role modelling. However, studies aiming at enhancing role modelling among clinical educators are very limited and generally lack comprehensive evaluations of the designed programs. We intended to gather robust evidence on the effectiveness of a longitudinal program for enhancing role modelling.

Methods: Clinical educators were divided into intervention and control groups. The longitudinal program, developed based on the exposure phase of the ‘Positive Doctor Role Modelling’ framework, was delivered during three months of onsite and online sessions. The effectiveness of the program was assessed in three levels of reaction, learning, and behavior.

Results: In the intervention group (N = 18), the mean score of satisfaction was 4.7 (SD = 0.5), and the learning (awareness about role modelling) improved significantly after the program (3.33–4.34), comparing to the control group (3.53–3.63). There was no significant difference in terms of behavior improvement between the two groups, before and after the program.

Conclusions: Our findings indicate that our longitudinal faculty development program on role modelling was highly appreciated by clinical educators, and improved their awareness and deliberate role modelling.

Acknowledgments

We thank all faculty members who participated in this study, particularly the ones who attended the role modelling program. We are, also, grateful to medical students, Mahdi Farhangian, Amirhosien Safavi, Mahmoud Khodadadegi, Aria Aminoroaya, Kasra Hatampour, Azin Teimourzadeh, and Kobra Aghazadeh, who helped us make inspiring video clips by sharing their interesting stories and experiences with their role models.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.

Ethical approval

The study received approval from the Ethics Committee of Tehran University of Medical Sciences (No.IR.TUMS.MEDICINE.REC.1395.1807)

Additional information

Funding

This study was part of a PhD thesis, supported and funded by Tehran University of Medical Sciences.

Notes on contributors

Elaheh Mohammadi

Elaheh Mohammadi, MSc, PhD Candidate at Department of Medical Education, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

Azim Mirzazadeh

Azim Mirzazadeh, MD, Associate Professor at Department of Internal Medicine and Department of Medical Education, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

Amir Ali Sohrabpour

Amir Ali Sohrabpour, Associate Professor at Liver and Pancreatobiliary Diseases Research Center, Digestive Disease Research Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

Hooman Shahsavari

Hooman Shahsavari, MSc, PhD, Assistant Professor at Medical-Surgical Department, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

Mehdi Yaseri

Mehdi Yaseri, PhD, Associate Professor at Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

Sara Mortaz Hejri

Sara Mortaz Hejri, MD, PhD, AFAMEE. Assistant Professor at Department of Medical Education, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; Postdoctoral Researcher at Institute of Health Sciences Education at McGill University, Montreal, Canada.