Complications associated with surveying medical student depression - The importance of anonymity

In this issue of Academic Psychiatry, we have given special attention to methodological issues relevant to educational and mental health research. In the first paper that follows, Ruth Levine and colleagues describe the importance of anonymity in survey studies that inquire about the personal mental health issues of medical students. This work is innovative and empirically derived, making it an unusually valuable contribution to the psychiatric education literature. In his companion commentary, Michael Myers of the University of British Columbia reminds us of the genuine humanity that we each bring to the practice of medicine. Together this paper and commentary underscore the imperative to pursue research on important but neglected medical student health care issues. They further demonstrate the need to do such work with sensitivity and with an awareness of intersecting ethical and scientific issues. The second paper, by Judith Meinert and colleagues, focuses on the recruitment of African-American women as subjects in mental health research. Although it is a nontraditional topic for our journal, the reviewers enthusiastically endorsed the importance of this paper for our readers who wish to engage in educational research efforts with students and residents of culturally and ethnically distinct backgrounds. The companion commentary by Lauren Bonner of the University of Washington gives emphasis to shared history and emerging collaborative opportunities in human research. Attention by academic psychiatrists to the considerations presented in this set of manuscripts may help ensure that educational research in our field is respectful, attuned, and methodologically rigorous.