Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-11T21:16:43.406Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Threshold Concepts and Teaching Psychiatry: Key to the Kingdom or Emperor's New Clothes?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 June 2014

Seamus Mac Suibhne
Seamus Mac Suibhne*
Affiliation:
School of Medicine, University College Cork, Co. Cork, Ireland
*
*Correspondence Email Seamus.MacSuibhne@ucd.ie
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Psychiatry, more than most medical specialties, must engage with undergraduate medical education to prevent the further marginalisation of mental health within medicine. There is an urgency to the need for psychiatrists and educationalists to communicate, and for psychiatrists to be aware of developments in educational theory. The idea of ‘threshold concepts’ is currently widely discussed by educationalists. Threshold concepts are described as areas of knowledge without which the learner cannot progress, and which, when grasped, lead to a transformation in the learner's perspective and understanding. Threshold concepts have been criticised on conceptual grounds, and there is a lack of clarity as to how to identify them empirically. While they may represent a fruitful approach to the task of engaging medical students in psychiatry teaching, it is suggested that further development of the idea is required before it could be usefully applied. However empirical studies in other disciplines suggest that there may be associated benefits to the teaching of the discipline from trying to identify threshold knowledge.

Keywords

Threshold conceptsteaching psychiatrytroublesome knowledgestudent engagementmedical educationpsychiatry teachingrecruitment of psychiatrists
Type
Opinion
Information
Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine , Volume 29 , Issue 2 , 2012 , pp. 132 - 134
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.Eagles, J M, Wilson, S, Murdoch, JM. Brown, T. What impact do undergraduate experiences have upon recruitment into psychiatry? Psychiatric Bulletin, 31: 70–72, 2007CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2.Scott, I.M. (2009) Whether or wither some specialties: a survey of Canadian medical student career interest. BMC Medical Education, 9:57CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
3.Tinto, V.Leaving College: Rethinking the Causes and Cures of Student Attrition. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. 1987.Google Scholar
4.Braxton, J.M. (2000) Reworking the student departure puzzle. Vanderbilt University Press, Nashville.Google Scholar
5.Feifel, D, et al.Attitudes Toward Psychiatry as a Prospective Career Among Students Entering Medical School. American Journal of Psychiatry 1999; 156:1397–402CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
6.Guerandel, A., Mac Suibhne, S, Malone, K. Best evidence medical education and psychiatry in Ireland: a three step framework for change. Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine 25(4): 120–122CrossRefGoogle Scholar
7.Meyer, J H FLand, R (2003) “Threshold Concepts and Troublesome Knowledge – Linkages to Ways of Thinking and Practising” in Improving Student Learning – Ten Years On. Rust, C. (Ed), OCSLD, Oxford.Google Scholar
8.Mezirow, J. (2000). Learning as Transformation: Critical Perspectives on a Theory in Progress. Jossey Bass, San FranciscoGoogle Scholar
9.Perkins, D. (1999) The many faces of constructivism. Educational Leadership, 57 (3), 1999.Google Scholar
10.Clouder, L (2005). Caring as a ‘threshold concept’: Transforming students in higher education into health (care) professionals. Teaching in Higher Education, 10(4), 505–517, 2005CrossRefGoogle Scholar
11.Campbell, J.K, Johnson, C. (1999) Trend spotting: fashions in medical education. British Medical Journal, 318: 1272–1275.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
12.Rowbottom, D P. (2007) “Demystifying threshold concepts.” Journal of Philosophy of Education, 41(2), 263–270CrossRefGoogle Scholar
13.Raw, J.Brigden, D. Gupta, R. Reflective diaries in medical practice Reflective Practice, Vol 6. No. 1, pp 165–9, 2005CrossRefGoogle Scholar
14.Irvine, N, Carmichael, P.Threshold Concepts: A point of focus for practitioner research., Active Learning in Higher Education, Vol. 10, No. 2, 103–119, 2009CrossRefGoogle Scholar
15.Irvine, N, Carmichael, P.Threshold Concepts: A point of focus for practitioner research., Active Learning in Higher Education, Vol. 10, No. 2, 103–119, 2009CrossRefGoogle Scholar
16.Chen, F M, Burstin, H. and Huntington, J. (2005), The importance of clinical outcomes in medical education research. Medical Education, 39(4), 350–1CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed