Straight on Through: the Current State of Child Tracks in Psychiatry Residency

The authors explore the advantages and disadvantages of 5-year integrated child and adolescent psychiatry tracks from the perspective of program directors.

The authors surveyed via email the program directors of the 134 child and adolescent psychiatry training programs accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education in the USA on their experiences with and perceptions of a formal child track.

The authors received 79 responses (60% response rate), including 13 (16%) with a child track, an increase from 7 programs in a survey completed 13 years ago. Of programs with a child track, a majority were created within the last 5 years. Out of an average postgraduate year 1 class size of nine, the most common child track size was two positions per year. Benefits cited for child tracks included improved recruitment, longitudinal retention, potential flexibility, scholarly productivity, and clinical benefits such as the foundation of a developmental perspective and improved integration of pediatrics and mental health. Of programs that do not have a track, more than half were strongly or very strongly considering one.

Child tracks have potential benefits for individual trainees, general psychiatry residency programs, and child and adolescent psychiatry fellowships. Additionally, long-term benefits to child mental health workforce recruitment and expansion are likely. The number of programs offering a child track has risen significantly over the last decade since the field was last surveyed, and this trend is likely to continue over the next decade.