Jacques and VCAT team publish in Medical Education Online

Laura Jacques, MD, associate professor in the UW Ob-Gyn Division of Academic Specialists in Ob-Gyn, is the senior author on a new study about online values clarification workshops in Medical Education Online. Co-authors on the study include Margaret Williams, MD, PGY-3; Elise Cowley; Taryn Valley; Alma Farooque, MD, PGY-1; Zoey Schultz; Amy Godecker, PhD; and Jackie Askins. 

In “An online alternative: A qualitative study of virtual abortion values clarification workshops”, the authors seek to understand the effectiveness of online values clarification workshops as a tool for medical student and resident education. Over the course of qualitative interviews with 24 medical student participants, 13 ob-gyn resident participants, and five facilitators of virtual values clarification workshops on abortion, the study team found:  

“...using an online platform to deliver values clarification workshops on abortion provides both unique advantages and disadvantages to in-person instruction. The original workshop takes steps to create a safe environment for participants by having them participate using an anonymous colleague’s survey responses, rather than their own. Themes from the interviews we conducted with medical trainees highlight how the virtual platform additionally allowed for more comfortable discussion around a stigmatized topic. Participants attributed their feelings of emotional safety during these discussions to the distance between participants created by the virtual format. Additionally, the online format lowered barriers, primarily travel time and effort, to accessing the workshop for both trainees and facilitators.” 

Read the whole study here!