What Factors Influence Residents to Enroll in Geriatric Psychiatry Subspecialty Training? A Cross-Canada Survey

The population is aging and there are insufficient numbers of geriatric psychiatrists to meet the need. Uptake of residents into existing subspecialty training programs has been suboptimal. The authors focused on geriatric psychiatry subspecialty enrollment in Canada.

An observational study of residents enrolled in or accepted to a geriatric psychiatry subspecialty program at an accredited Canadian university was completed. The survey focused on 42 factors and the degree to which they impacted the resident on decision to enroll in geriatric psychiatry training.

Sixteen out of 40 eligible residents completed the survey for a response rate of 40%. The most influential factors included positive countertransference to the elderly, working with challenging and complex patient problems, and several educational factors, including comfort working with patients and families after exposure to a geriatric psychiatry experience, a positive geriatric psychiatry experience, having supervisors viewed as competent and role models, positive feedback on geriatric psychiatry performance during residency, and exposure to diverse clinical presentations and settings.

Many educational factors that were influential are also modifiable factors, meaning educational exposure, faculty role modeling, and curricular design can all be enhanced to address enrolment in geriatric psychiatry programs. The main study limitation was the limited sample size, although a 40% response rate is considered higher than average. Future direction includes research to explore factors that dissuaded residents who were interested in geriatric psychiatry from ultimately pursuing formal training, as well as broadening the study population beyond Canada.