Improving GPs' skills and competencies in child psychiatry

Concerned at the poor availability of psychiatric services for children and adolescents, the Finnish Parliament allocated extra funds for their development during 2000 and 2001. With this subsidy, a project was set underway to update general practitioners' (GPs') skills and knowledge in child psychiatry. The problem-based learning (PBL) method was used, combined with multidisciplinary teamwork. The present paper reports on changes Finnish GPs' perceptions of their knowledge and skills in child psychiatry over a 1-year period. The study sample comprised 761 physicians working in health centres in the area of Tampere University Hospital, with a catchment population of one million. GPs' self-assessments of their skills in child psychiatry in 16 areas were collected by postal questionnaire in 2000 and 2001. The response rates were 66.1% and 57.1%, respectively. Those who answered in both years were included in the analysis (n=371). Some GPs felt that their skills and competencies had improved and some that they had declined, while the majority reported no changes. According to logistic regression analysis, the only factor explaining a marked positive change was participation in child psychiatric training. In two areas of competence, GPs who had attended child psychiatric training rated their skills as significantly better than those who had not attended such training. We conclude that the effect of this undertaking was modest when implemented as a one-off training event.