Stronger Together: A Longitudinal Follow-Up Study of Psychiatric Educators Participating in an International Faculty Development Program

Objective Faculty development is an important factor in professional identity formation for health profession educators. The Association for Academic Psychiatry’s Master Educator Program is a faculty development program for psychiatric educators. We explored changes in participants’ academic contributions and perceived benefits 1–6 years after program participation. Methods We conducted a prospective, longitudinal study of participants who attended at least one Master Educator session from September 2018 to September 2023. Survey 1 (baseline, administered before each session) and Survey 2 (follow-up, conducted once in 2024) captured demographics, academic productivity, leadership roles, and perceived program impact. Pre- to post-group comparisons and within-participant changes were assessed using McNemar’s and Stuart-Maxwell tests. Open-ended comments were analyzed qualitatively. Results Survey 1 was distributed to 220 participants, receiving responses from 150 unique individuals (68.2% response rate). Of those, 52 (34.7%) also completed Survey 2. At follow-up, 50 (96.2%) participants reported contributing to educational innovations (curricula or programs), 36 (69.2%) indicated increased academic productivity, and 31 (59.6%) believed the program had helped advance their careers. No statistically significant within-participant pre-to-post changes in academic productivity (p = 0.12) or education leadership roles (p = 0.13) were observed. Participants reported internal (reflecting professional identity and recognition) and external (educational scholarly output and innovation) benefits. Conclusions This is the first follow-up study of psychiatric educators participating in an international professional-association based faculty development program, which utilized a longitudinal prospective design and within-participant analysis. Despite limited measurable changes in traditional academic metrics, participants reported benefits in professional identity formation, community building, and scholarly engagement. These findings suggest that the impact of the Master Educator Program extends beyond traditional metrics. Studies with larger samples, objective longitudinal outcomes, and comparison groups are needed to evaluate the program impact.