Neurophobia vs neuroendocrinophobia - the dictionary ain

Yashasvini Gosavi; Jack Sheppard; Latif Miah; Sameera Hettipathirannahelage; Darcey Atkinson; Clinton Mitchell

doi:10.1530/endoabs.109.OP6.3

OP6.3

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Endocrine Abstracts (2025) 109 OP6.3 | DOI: 10.1530/endoabs.109.OP6.3

SFEBES2025 Poster Oral Presentations Innovation in Teaching and Assessment (4 abstracts)

Neurophobia vs neuroendocrinophobia - the dictionary ain’t big enough for the both of us! using near-peer teaching to deliver neuroendocrine teaching to year 4 medical students in a world of established neurophobia

Yashasvini Gosavi ¹ , Jack Sheppard ² , Latif Miah ² , Sameera Hettipathirannahelage ² , Darcey Atkinson ¹ & Clinton Mitchell ³

Author affiliations

¹Cardiff University School of Medicine, Cardiff, United Kingdom; ²Cardiff and Vale University Health Board, Cardiff, United Kingdom; ³Wye Valley NHS Trust, Hereford, United Kingdom

Background: The term ‘neurophobia’ reflects the difficulties and anxieties medical students experience when learning neurology. Neuroendocrinology, a complex component of the neurosurgical workload, may induce similar fears. Near Peer Teaching (NPT) – a pedagogical approach where students teach their juniors – has been shown to be as effective as faculty-led instruction and improves understanding of complex concepts. In the hope of preventing it from joining neurology in the medical student’s list of phobias, this study explores whether NPT is effective for teaching neuroendocrinology.

Method: A Year 5 medical student, under Clinical Teaching Fellow supervision, designed and delivered a tutorial focused on diabetes insipidus (DI) and syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone (SIADH). Pre- and post-session feedback was collected via Microsoft Forms, using a 5-point Likert scale to evaluate students’ self-rated knowledge and confidence regarding DI and SIADH. SPSS was used for statistical analysis; thematic analysis assessed qualitative feedback.

Results: 85 Year 4 medical students participated, with 81 completing the survey. Pre-session, the median self-rated knowledge score for both DI and SIADH was 3.0 (neutral) (IQR 2.0-3.0), significantly increasing to 4.0 (good) (DI IQR 4.0-5.0; SIADH IQR 4.0-4.0) post-session (DI: U-statistic=498.0, p<0.001; SIADH: U-statistic=616.5, p<0.001). Confidence in answering general neuroendocrine SBAs improved significantly (U-statistic=813.5, p<0.001), as it did for DI (U-statistic=700.0, p<0.001) and SIADH (U-statistic=795.0, p<0.001). Thematic analysis indicated that students found NPT helpful but desired greater variety and interaction.

Conclusion: NPT statistically significantly improves medical students’ self-rated knowledge of general neuroendocrinology, specifically DI and SIADH. Importantly, it also statistically significantly improves student confidence in answering SBAs on these topics. Supported by the positive qualitative feedback, along with clear suggestions for development, the results of this study highlight the current and potential value of NPT in addressing the challenges of teaching neuroendocrinology and avoiding the coining of a new term: ‘neuroendocrinophobia’.