Common misconceptions about psychopharmacology in undergraduate psychology and pharmacy students

Abstract

College undergraduate students often hold erroneous beliefs about their disciplines that are resistant to change. Here we addressed the critical need for research aimed at assessing the educational value of game-based learning methodologies for the evaluation and amelioration of wrong beliefs in psychopharmacology. We set out to (1) examine the prevalence of inaccurate beliefs about psychopharmacology in Psychology and Pharmacy undergraduate students at European University of Madrid; and (2) evaluate whether a game-based learning methodology (i.e., Kahoot) empowered students' learning. Sample was comprised of 26 final-year undergraduate students, 10 enrolled in a Psychology degree program and 16 in a Pharmacy degree program at European University of Madrid. Teams of 5-6 students with approximately equal representation of degrees were created. Misconceptions about psychopharmacological concepts were assessed with a 10-item quiz presented with the online game-based learning tool Kahoot. Alarmingly, final-year Psychology and Pharmacy undergraduate students endorsed more than half (52.50%) of the misconceptions tested with the Kahoot test. Fortunately, students reported a major improvement (6.04 out of 7.00) in their basic psychopharmacological knowledge after this game-based learning experience. Final-year college undergraduates in Psychology and Pharmacy degrees seem to still uncritically hold widely believed myths leading to widespread misunderstanding about psychopharmacological core concepts. Game-based learning methodologies such as Kahoot may be effective at evaluating and curtailing these myths as well as promoting an engaging and motivating learning environment. (C) 2017 Published by Future Academy