A Qualitative Study of Factors Affecting Morale in Psychiatry Residency Training.

Objective: Resident morale is an important yet poorly understood aspect of the residency training experience. Despite implications for program quality, resident satisfaction, patient care, and recruitment, little is known about the variables influencing this complex phenomenon. This study sought to identify important factors affecting morale in psychiatry residency training.

Reducing medical students' stigmatization of people with chronic mental illness: a field intervention at the "living museum" state hospital art studio.

Objective: The authors designed an intervention to reduce beginning medical students' stigmatization of people with chronic mental illness (CMI).

Methods: Pre-clinical medical students visited a state psychiatric facility's "Living Museum," a combination patient art studio/display space, as the intervention. During the visit, students interacted with artist-guides who showed their work and discussed their experiences creating art.

Discrediting the notion "working with 'crazies' will make you 'crazy'": addressing stigma and enhancing empathy in medical student education.

People with mental illness around the world continue to suffer from stigmatization and limited care. Previous studies utilizing self-report questionnaires indicate that many medical students regard clinical work with psychiatric patients as unappealing, while the professionalism literature has documented a general decline in students' capacity for empathy over the course of medical school. Through in-depth interviews, this study attempts to better understand the formation of medical students' perceptions of psychiatry and the implications of that process for a more general understanding of the impact of emotionally-laden experiences on medical students' capacity for empathy.

Medical students' perceptions of psychiatry as a career choice.

Objective: This study describes medical students' perceptions of the field of psychiatry and identifies the impact of those perceptions on their career choices in order to explore the questions: Are we as a field doing all that we can to enhance the educational experience of all medical students, regardless of their career preferences? What are the most appropriate ways to encourage interested medical students that would allow for more targeted recruitment efforts toward the most receptive students?

Methods: Third-year (n=131) and fourth-year medical students (n=117) at a northeastern, urban, private university medical school completed anonymous self-report questionnaires. Students rated the impact of intellectual interest, status, earning potential, healthcare reform, quality of life, satisfaction, and stress of working with psychiatric patients on their consideration of a psychiatric career. Respondents were then systematically divided into two groups: 1) those who considered psychiatry as a possible career choice and 2) those who did not.