Mental health training in family practice residency programs

This paper presents a national survey of psychiatric and behavioral science training in approved family medicine residency programs. A 64 percent response rate resulted in data describing residency programs approved by the American Academy of Family Physicians: the residents, faculty, and curriculum content, and the teaching-learning format utilized in mental health training. Though improvement in the mental health services of primary care providers is a major health issue, training is typically provided by part-time or volunteer faculty; less than 5 percent of the total faculty are full-time psychiatrists. Critical elements of effective curriculum design and content that are inadequate or omitted are discussed.