Evaluating attitudes of child psychiatry residents to psychotropic medication: implications for training

The attitudes of child psychiatry residents toward the use of psychotropic medication in child psychiatric practice were studied. Eighteen residents underwent a semistructured interview that covered their experience in child psychiatry, beliefs about etiology of child psychopathology, preferences for treatment, attitude toward and experience with drugs in treating childhood disturbances. The residents favored a psychosocial view of the etiology of child disturbance and preferred family therapy to other forms of treatment. Six had never treated a child with medication and most were uncertain about indications for drug use and felt they had less than average or poor skills in this area. Seven residents, who did not attend department psychopharmacology seminars and had little clinical experience with drugs, had a strong antipathy toward their use. Experience with and attitude toward drug use could not be predicted from the residents' appraisal of their own competence in this field, their experience in child psychiatry, their appreciation of the biological contributions to child psychopathology, or their future practice plans.