Escaping psychodiagnostics: implementation of a Digital Educational Escape Room with future mental health professionals

Abstract

ABSTRACT Teaching and learning of the psychodiagnostic procedures is a challenging task for university teachers and students. The study aims to test the implementation of a Digital Educational Escape Room with postgraduate psychologists and examine its influence on learning and on confidence for establishing mental disorder diagnoses. Postgraduate students of two applied psychology programs (one online, one face-to-face) (N = 280; M age = 32.17; 84.3% female) completed the activity. Students answered questions related to user experience and learning before and after the activity. Almost all students (98.6%) enjoyed the activity and considered that it contributed to their learning. Perceived confidence for establishing a diagnosis increased (t = 13.5; p < .001), whereas perceived difficulty with differential diagnosis remained the same (t = 0.121; p = .226). This is the first Escape Room implemented to the teaching and learning of future psychologists. The study provides evidence for its successful implementation and proposes its use as a handy tool for assisting the learning of psychodiagnostics.