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Mentoring in Psychiatric Residency Programs: A Survey of Chief Residents

Received June 27, 2008; revised October 17, 2008; accepted November 4, 2008. Drs. DeFrancisci Lis, Petkova, and Shatkin are affiliated with the Child Study Center at New York University in New York City; Dr. Wood is affiliated with the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco. Address correspondence to Lea DeFrancisci Lis, M.D., NY University Child Study Center, Child Psychiatry, 577 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016; leadefrancisci{at}gmail.com (e-mail).

OBJECTIVE: Mentorship is an important component of graduate education. This study assessed the perceptions of general psychiatry chief residents regarding the adequacy of mentorship provided during training. METHODS: The authors surveyed 229 chief residents participating in the APA National Chief Residents Leadership Program in 2004 and 2005. The survey assessed domains such as work hours, didactics, home and family life, and mentorship. RESULTS: Of the chief psychiatric residents surveyed, 49% reported that they did not have a clearly defined career development mentor, and 39% reported that they did not feel adequately mentored. Gender, race/ethnicity, marital status, moonlighting, medical school (American versus international), and type of residency program (academic versus community based) did not show significant association with either "having a clearly defined mentor" or "feeling adequately mentored," based on chi-squared tests for independence. Chief residents who had authored peer-reviewed publications were significantly more likely to report having a clearly defined mentor and to feel adequately mentored than those who did not author publications. Logistic regression analysis showed that having a clearly defined mentor was associated with twice the odds for feeling well prepared to practice psychiatry upon graduation compared with those who did not have a clearly defined mentor, even after controlling for gender, race, medical school, and residency program type. CONCLUSION: Half of the psychiatric chief residents surveyed reported the lack of a clearly defined career development mentor. In addition, a chief resident’s response of lacking a clear mentor was associated with the perception of being less prepared to practice psychiatry upon graduation. Psychiatric residency training programs may benefit from further clarification and implementation of effective mentorship programs.

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