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Purpose: To demonstrate how an online coaching intervention can support well-being management (mental health and mood) of medical students, by increasing psychological awareness, emotional management, and healthy/positive action repertoires.

Design/methodology/approach: A two-group randomized control trial design using a waitlist as a control was used with a sample of 176 medical students. Half were randomly assigned the 5P© coaching intervention and the remaining half assigned to the waitlist group, scheduled to receive the intervention after the initial treatment group completed the intervention. Participant baseline data on stress, anxiety, depression, positive and negative affect, and psychological capital were obtained prior to commencing the study, after completion of the first treatment group, and again postintervention of the waitlisted group, and then at the end of the year.

Findings: Coaching the students to reflect on their emotions and make solution-focused choices to manage known stresses of medical education was shown to decrease medical student stress, anxiety, and depression, thereby increasing the mental health profiles of medical students.

Research limitations/implications: The findings suggest that an online coaching tool that increases psychological awareness and positive action can have a positive effect on mental health and mood of medical students.

Practical implications: The framework developed and tested in this study is a useful tool for medical schools to assist medical students in managing their well-being, thereby decreasing the incidence and prevalence of mental illness in medical students. The implications of this research are significant in that positively affecting the psychological well-being of medical students could have a significant effect not only on each medical student but also on every patient that they treat, and society as a whole. Better mental health in medical students has the potential to decrease dropout rates, increase empathy and professionalism, and allow for better patient care.

Originality/value: This study contributes to the literature on online coaching for improved psychological well-being and emotional regulation, mental health, and medical students. It is one of the first studies using a coaching protocol to make a positive change to the known stress, anxiety, and depression experienced by medical students worldwide.

Rural Australian patients continue to receive inadequate medical attention. One potential solution to this is to train Indigenous Australians to become medical doctors and return to their community to serve their people. The study aims to examine whether Indigenous medical students have a stronger intention to practice in underserved communities.

A sample of Indigenous (N = 17) and non-Indigenous students (N = 188) from a medical program in Sydney was surveyed about their medical self-concept and motivation. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted, group differences were tested, and correlation patterns were examined.

CFA found seven distinct factors – three medical self-concepts (affective, cognitive, and cultural competence), one motivation factor, and three work-related variables – intention to serve underserved communities (intention), understanding of Indigenous health (understanding), and work-related anxiety (anxiety). Indigenous medical students were higher in cultural competence, intention, and understanding. Both the affective and cognitive components of medical self-concept were more highly correlated with intention and understanding for Indigenous students than for non-Indigenous students.

It is important to examine medical students’ self-concepts as well as their cultural characteristics and strengths that seed success in promoting service to underserved Indigenous communities.

The findings show that Indigenous medical students tended to understand Indigenous health issues better and to be more willing to serve underserved Indigenous communities. By enhancing both the affective and cognitive components of medical self-concepts, the “home-grown” medical education program is more likely to produce medical doctors to serve underserved communities with a good understanding of Indigenous health.

“Becoming” a doctor involves the acquisition of medical knowledge, skills and professional identity. Medical professional identity formation (MPIF) is complex, multi-factorial and closely linked to societal expectations, personal and social identity. Increasingly, doctors are required to engage in leadership/management involving significant identity shift. This paper aims to explore medical professional identity (MPI) and MPIF in relation to doctors as leaders. Selected identity theories are used to enrich the understanding of challenges facing doctors in leadership situations and two concepts are introduced: medical leader identity (MLI) and medical leader identity formation (MLIF) and consideration given to how they can be nurtured within medical practice.

A rapid conceptual review of relevant literature was carried out to identify a set of relevant concepts and theories that could be used to develop a new conceptual framework for MLI and MLIF.

MLIF is crucial for doctors to develop as medical leaders, and, like MPIF, the process begins before medical school with both identities influenced, shaped and challenged throughout doctors’ careers. Individuals require support in developing awareness that their identities are multiple, nested, interconnected and change over time.

This paper draws on concepts from wider literature on professional identity, in relation to how doctors might develop their MLI alongside their MPI. It offers a new perspective on MPI in the light of calls on doctors to “become and be healthcare leaders” and introduces the new concepts of MLI and MLIF.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate perceptions towards a career in psychiatry among medical students and psychiatrists and identify how recruitment into the specialty may be improved.

This study locally compares medical student and psychiatric doctor responses to a structured online survey and structured interviews with key managerial figures in the Humber NHS Foundation Trust.

Comparison across two main areas (pre-decision exposure to psychiatry and reasons for considering a psychiatric career) found that both students and doctors were influenced to make a choice about a career in psychiatry during medical school. Medical students found compatibility with family life to be more important when considering psychiatry, whereas doctors cited content-based reasons as significant pull factors. Stigma and fear of being harmed deterred some students from choosing a career in psychiatry. Structured interview responses reiterated the importance of pre-medical school and undergraduate mentorship in bolstering future recruitment to psychiatry.

Medical students perceive certain career issues differently to their postgraduate counterparts. Widening the content-based appeal of psychiatry and optimising the medical school experience of the specialty via varied and high-quality placements may be a key step towards tackling the national shortfall in qualified psychiatrists.

This is the first published study comparing medical student and psychiatric doctor perceptions of a career in psychiatry.

This study aims to explore views and attitudes of doctors, patients and medical students in regard to Functional Neurological Disorders (FND), a common presentation in neurological and psychiatric practice.

We conducted semi-structured interviews with 11 clinicians and obtained online questionnaires from 21 patients and 75 medical students. We applied thematic analysis.

The clinician and patient surveys highlighted the importance of the therapeutic relationship and need for transparent communication. However, patients criticised excessive reliance on online resources in doctor–patient communication. They also emphasised the relevance of triggering life events, which was not a prominent theme for clinicians. Medical students had only scant knowledge of the concept of functional neurological disorder.

A good therapeutic relationship is considered central for outcome of FND by both clinicians and patients. The survey of medical students has identified considerable gaps in undergraduate medical education in FND. The patient survey can inform recommendations for the explanation of aetiological models and treatment options in clinical practice.

This is the first study exploring the attitudes of clinicians, medical students and patients to FND. The study highlights potential areas of disagreement between these groups.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the use of competences in medical education and training and to discuss some existing standards, curricula and competency frameworks used by the medical profession in both the UK and internationally to inform leadership development.

This research reinforces the message delivered by the medical profession and policy makers in recent years that all doctors should attain management and leadership competences in addition to clinical knowledge and skills to be an effective and safe practitioner. In the UK, this message and research has helped inform the development of a Medical Leadership Competency Framework (MLCF) published by The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges[1] and NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement[2].

Widespread acceptance of the MLCF is now resulting in the integration of leadership and management competences into all undergraduate and postgraduate curricula.

Other countries with similar histories of low medical engagement in planning, delivery and transformation of services may also benefit from the research undertaken and the MLCF

The paper shows that the MLCF may well inspire more doctors in the future to seek formal leadership positions.

Stigmatising attitudes towards persons with mental illness are commonly reported among health professionals. Familiarity with mental illness has been reported to improve these attitudes. Very few studies have compared future medical doctors' attitudes toward types of mental illness, substance use disorders and physical illness. A cross-sectional survey of 5th and 6th year medical students as well as recently graduated medical doctors was conducted in April 2011. The 12-item level of contact report and the Attitude towards Mental Illness Questionnaire were administered. Partici -pants endorsed stigmatising attitudes towards mental illness; with attitudes more adverse for schizophrenia compared to depression. Stigmatising attitudes were similarly endorsed for substance use disorders. Paradoxically, attitudes towards HIV/AIDS were positive and similar to diabetes mellitus. Increasing familiarity with mental illness was weakly associated with better attitudes towards depression and schizophrenia. Stigmatising attitudes towards depression and schizophrenia are common among future doctors. Efforts to combat stigma are urgently needed and should be promoted among medical students and recent medical graduates.

Medical confidentiality derives from the Hippocratic Oath and has been affirmed in most codes of professional conduct, including the Irish Medical Council's guide to professional conduct and ethics. The Irish Data Protection Act 1988 and Amendment 2003 bring this responsibility into a legal forum. The aim of this audit is to assess how comprehensively medical tutors/consultants instilled knowledge and appreciation of confidentiality and data protection to medical students in a prominent Dublin University Hospital.

Breaches in data protection legislation by final year medical students were identified by means of a questionnaire. Changes were made to the curriculum (presentations, notices on students' e‐learning interface and induction manual) and to the exams in psychiatry, to increase awareness of data protection legislation. Students at the same point in their education were re‐assessed one year later to see if the interventions were helpful in increasing knowledge and improving adherence to data protection legislation.

Significant breaches of the data protection legislation at baseline and follow up were identified. Examples include: “Data shall be kept for one or more specified, explicit and legitimate purposes” – when asked if they would inform patients that assessments were for submission of a case report, 44 per cent at baseline and 56 per cent at follow‐up said yes. “Appropriate security measures shall be taken against unauthorised access” – 52 per cent password‐protected their computer at baseline and 59 per cent did at follow‐up. Of those that had no password protection at baseline, 70 per cent of their computers were used by others, with little change in this at follow‐up (68 per cent). At baseline 52 per cent kept a copy of reports on USB devices compared to 46 per cent at follow‐up. 26 per cent admitted to losing a USB device in the past. “Data should not be kept longer than is necessary for that purpose” – 63 per cent admitting keeping electronic copies of case reports on their computers following submission at baseline and 64 per cent at follow‐up. “Data should be made anonymous” – 96 per cent at baseline and 100 per cent at follow‐up used initials when submitting case reports to make the data anonymous.

What was disappointing was that, while knowledge and awareness of obligations under data protection legislation improved following intervention, breaches in compliance still remained.

This is the first such audit in Ireland on the provision of educational training in the area of data protection legislation to medical students. It is likely that that such breaches by medical students reflect the tip of the iceberg in relation to probable breaches amongst registered healthcare professionals. The challenge now facing the medical profession and healthcare services is to effect behavioural change to improve compliance with data protection legislation.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the experiences and views of the first group of medical students to complete the intercalated International Health BSc in Leeds.

The paper draws on experiences of international health and draws parallels with those of other international health students. The paper also discusses how studying international health may benefit future doctors and considers how medical education can take a more international approach.

The paper finds that international health education can help future doctors acquire knowledge and skills in refugees' health, patients' cultural differences, the multifactoral influences on health, policymaking, the interests of various stakeholders, problem‐solving skills and evidence‐based medicine.

The paper shows that international health teaching is both relevant and valuable in medical education. The medical profession should give more recognition to its worth.

This is the first paper to reflect on medical students' experiences of studying for an intercalated BSc at Leeds. It makes some important points about international health education for doctors and medical students world‐wide.

The prevalence of psychiatric disorders in children and young people is increasing, leading to recommendations that medical schools re-consider their curriculum content and teaching practices for child and adolescent psychiatry (CAP). The purpose of this paper is to seek guidance for undergraduate curriculum development from the wider literature on CAP curriculum content and teaching practices.

A comprehensive search of the literature was conducted, focussing on studies that examined undergraduate teaching of CAP. In an attempt to establish whether there is an agreed level of curriculum content and teaching practices, literature from all over the world was included.

Findings suggest that curriculum content and teaching practices are varied, therefore it was difficult to identify best practice upon which recommendations can be made. In addition, despite previous calls for curriculum improvements and expansion of learning objectives, recent studies suggest that there has been little change.

A common theme emerging was the importance of making the CAP curriculum relevant to all future doctors rather than only those who plan to specialise in CAP. Further research to determine what CAP knowledge, skills and attitudes non-psychiatrists think that medical students need to be taught is warranted.

This paper reviewed the literature on undergraduate CAP teaching, highlighting common themes from the wider literature on medical curriculum development to inform how CAP curricula content can be developed to equip future doctors.