Best practices for teaching psychosomatic obstetrics and gynecology

Figures & data

Table 1. Number of ISPOG member societies reporting coverage of educational topics at different stages of learning continuum.

	Undergraduate/ Medical school	Graduate medical/ Residency	Post-residency/ Career
General psychosomatics (e.g. communication skills, mind-body interaction)	10	8	6
Hormonal effects on mental health	6	8	7
Psychological effects on women’s care (e.g. fear of childbirth, psycho-oncology)	3	8	9
Social and ethical issues related to women’s health (e.g. interpersonal violence, access to care)	8	9	9
Sexuality and sexual health	3	8	9

Table 2. Example of proposed competencies for POG education.

For undergraduate (medical student):	Method of instruction	Method of assessment
Communication in taking history and counseling	WS	DO
Awareness of mind-body interactions in health and disease	D	ST
Understanding of hormonal influence on mood and behavior	D	ST
Definition of sexual health and physiology	D	ST
Discussion of reproductive justice and social pressures on womens’ health	D, WS	ST
For graduate (practicing clinician in training):
Advanced communication (e.g. breaking bad news)	WS, CI	DO
Counseling on psychosomatic issues related to women’s health (e.g. cancer, infertility, prenatal care)	D, CI	DO
Management of specific issues related to hormonal effects on mood (e.g. PMDD, perinatal mood disorders)	D, CI	ST
Management of sexual dysfunction and treatment of sexual minorities	D, WS	ST, DO
Demonstration of screening and counseling for intimate partner violence and sexual trauma	WS, CI	DO

WS: workshop; CE: clinical instruction; D: didactics; ST: standardized test; DO: direct observation.