Background: Pharmacists need knowledge and confidence to support people living with mental illness. Evidence-based educational materials for pharmacy students to provide psychosis care is limited.
Aim: To co-design, content validate and pilot-test, with mental health stakeholders, simulated patient scenarios to educate and assess students in providing psychosis care.
Method: Mental health consumers were invited to co-design three simulated patient scenarios (first-episode psychosis, carer of someone living with schizophrenia, non-adherence to antipsychotics), guided by published and psychometrically-tested materials. A panel of mental health stakeholders participated in two rounds of content validation (RAND/UCLA appropriateness model). Round 1 involved individual survey completion to calculate item content validity index (I-CVI) for relevance/clarity, content validity ratio for essentiality and overall scale content validity index (S-CVI/Ave and S-CVI/UA) scores for each scenario. Scores analyses and feedback comments informed revisions. Round 2 involved a panel meeting to discuss revisions and finalise content. The scenarios were then pilot-tested with pharmacy students.
Results: Two consumers participated in co-design, nine stakeholders in content validation. All items showed excellent content validity for relevance/clarity. Eleven items were revised for essentiality, discussed, then re-rated at the panel meeting for consensus. The scenarios were pilot-tested with pharmacy students (n = 15) and reported to be realistic and relevant to future practice, contributing to students' confidence in supporting people experiencing mental health symptoms or crises.
Conclusion: Partnering with mental health stakeholders has enabled co-design of authentic, content valid educational materials for pharmacy students to provide psychosis care, in preparation for future provision of mental health support.
Keywords: Co-design; Content validation; Mental health education; Pharmacy; Psychosis; Simulation.
© 2023. The Author(s).