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What Can You Learn About Psychiatry Programs from Their Website? A Content Evaluation for Potential Applicants

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Abstract

Objective

This project aimed to assess the information contained on general psychiatry program websites and identify common themes that may be useful and informative for residency applicants.

Methods

A survey study design was used to evaluate all US general psychiatry program websites as listed in the FREIDA database. The evaluation form included 44 binary (yes or no) items. Two reviewers rated each item on all program websites between September 2021 and January 2022. Item discrepancies were settled by a third reviewer. Fisher’s exact tests evaluated differences between geographic regions and program types. Multidimensional scaling and Rasch modeling were conducted to examine clustering and the probability of items reported on program websites.

Results

A total of 285 websites were identified; 13 were excluded. Internal consistency was high among reviewers, Cronbach’s Alpha = 0.927; κ = 0.863. Websites varied considerably in quality. Significant inconsistent reporting was observed by region for current residents’ photos and alumni careers (fellowship/jobs); p<0.001. Program types varied regarding information about program faculty, which included significant differences for faculty photo, faculty research interest, and faculty research publications; p<0.001.

Conclusions

While inter-rater reliability was high, considerable variation among websites was observed. Residency programs could be improved by consistently reporting resident and faculty information. Results show that applicants may encounter issues finding pertinent information, as programs’ FREIDA link did not direct the user to the residency program website two-thirds of the time.

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Acknowledgements

This project was previously presented at the AADPRT 2022 Annual Meeting as a virtual poster.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita, Wichita, KS, USA

    Austin G. Armstrong, Kenneth W. Fraser, Shelby N. Nix, Rosalee Zackula & Rachel Brown

  2. University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA

    Matthew Macaluso

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  1. Austin G. Armstrong
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  2. Kenneth W. Fraser
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  3. Shelby N. Nix
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Correspondence to Austin G. Armstrong.

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Armstrong, A.G., Fraser, K.W., Nix, S.N. et al. What Can You Learn About Psychiatry Programs from Their Website? A Content Evaluation for Potential Applicants. Acad Psychiatry 48, 29–35 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40596-023-01916-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40596-023-01916-0

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