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Attitudes Toward Neuroscience Education Among Psychiatry Residents and Fellows

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Abstract

Objective

The purpose of this study is to assess the attitudes of psychiatry trainees toward neuroscience education in psychiatry residency and subsequent training in order to inform neuroscience education approaches in the future.

Methods

This online survey was designed to capture demographic information, self-assessed neuroscience knowledge, attitudes toward neuroscience education, preferences in learning modalities, and interest in specific neuroscience topics. Volunteers were identified through the American Psychiatric Association, which invited 2,563 psychiatry trainees among their members.

Results

Four hundred thirty-six trainees completed the survey. Nearly all agreed that there is a need for more neuroscience education in psychiatry residency training (94 %) and that neuroscience education could help destigmatize mental illness (91 %). Nearly all (94 %) expressed interest in attending a 3-day course on neuroscience. Many neuroscience topics and modes of learning were viewed favorably by participants. Residents in their first 2 years of training expressed attitudes similar to those of more advanced residents and fellows. Some differences were found based on the level of interest in a future academic role.

Conclusions

This web-based study demonstrates that psychiatry residents see neuroscience education as important in their training and worthy of greater attention. Our results suggest potential opportunities for advancing neuroscience education.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Dr. John Oldham, Dr. Dilip Jeste, Dr. Eve Moscicki, Ms. Shelly Cohen, and Ms. Janet Kuramoto of the American Psychiatric Association for coordinating the invitation of its members to complete the online survey as well as the 2013 graduating class of general psychiatry at Stanford for their feedback in the pilot study. The authors would like to thank all participants of this study for completing the survey.

Disclosures

The authors report no financial conflicts of interest.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

    Lawrence K. Fung, Laura Weiss Roberts & Amit Etkin

  2. Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA

    Mayada Akil

  3. University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    Alik Widge

  4. Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Healthcare System, and the Sierra Pacific Mental Illness, Research, Education, and Clinical Center (MIRECC), Palo Alto, CA, USA

    Amit Etkin

Authors
  1. Lawrence K. Fung
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  2. Mayada Akil
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  3. Alik Widge
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  4. Laura Weiss Roberts
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  5. Amit Etkin
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Amit Etkin.

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Fung, L.K., Akil, M., Widge, A. et al. Attitudes Toward Neuroscience Education Among Psychiatry Residents and Fellows. Acad Psychiatry 38, 127–134 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40596-014-0034-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40596-014-0034-x

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