Family practice residents' evaluation of a competency-based psychiatry curriculum

The authors report the formal evaluation of a competency-based curriculum in psychiatry in a family practice residency program at a community hospital five years after the program was implemented. In interviews, the 35 residents in the program in 1985 responded to a questionnaire on their understanding of and attitude toward the requirements of the competencies and the difficulties they encountered in documenting the competencies. All but two of the residents were aware of the nature of the curriculum, but only 43 percent had completed one or more of the 15 required competencies. The residents' attitude toward the requirements of demonstrating specific competencies in psychiatry during the residency were generally negative, although they were favorable toward required competencies in other disciplines. The results of the present study identify specific problems in implementing such a curriculum. Successful implementation may have been impeded by the novelty of the new educational format and a lack of reinforcement by faculty members.