The influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on the assessment of social media use in the psychiatric evaluation within a residency training program: A survey study (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Social media is rapidly becoming a significant component, if not the leading one, in many interpersonal interactions today. Current research suggests that there is a relationship between mental well-being and social media and as this medium rapidly integrates into interpersonal interactions, incorporation of social media assessment into the psychiatric evaluation warrants attention. Furthermore, The COVID-19 pandemic and consequential isolation practices led to increased dependence on social media, allowing an opportunity to assess adaptation of the psychiatric interview in response to socio-cultural changes. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to evaluate if general psychiatry residents and child and adolescent psychiatry fellows assessed social media use in their clinical interview and if they changed their practices in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the safer-at -home order. METHODS As part of a quality improvement project, the authors surveyed general psychiatry residents and child psychiatry fellows in a University-based training program about how social media use was incorporated in patient evaluations. Soon after the survey closed, “stay at home” orders related to the COVID-19 pandemic began. A subsequent survey was sent out with the same questions to evaluate if residents and fellows altered their interview practices in response to the dramatic socio-cultural changes. RESULTS Pre-COVID-19 pandemic survey results found that only 14.3% of respondents incorporated social media questions in patient evaluations. Remarkably, in a following survey after the onset of the pandemic, only 20% of respondents included any assessment of social media involvement/utilization, a not statistically significant increase (p=.352), despite a majority having encountered cases where social media use was clinically important. CONCLUSIONS These small survey results raise important questions relevant to the training of residents and fellows in psychiatry. The assessment of social media use remains a neglected component of the psychiatric interview in trainees. The burgeoning use and diversity of social media engagement warrants scrutiny with respect to how this is addressed in interview training. Additionally, given minimal adaptation of the interview in the midst of a pandemic, these findings suggest an opportunity for improving psychiatric training that incorporates adapting clinical interviews to socio-cultural change.