Strategic implementation of child and adolescent psychiatry training in Chinese residency programs: an exploratory survey.

Background: The workforce shortage in child and adolescent psychiatry (CAP) in China greatly restricts patients' access to child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS). Implementing CAP training within general or adult psychiatry programs may offer a viable solution; however, such programs are underdeveloped in China. The aim of this study was to gather empirical evidence regarding CAP training needs within Chinese psychiatry residency programs.

Method: An exploratory survey was administered online to psychiatry residents and their mentors to assess the application of CAP in clinical practice, satisfaction with existing CAP training, and attitudes towards the expansion of such training. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics, the Mann‒Whitney U test, the t-test, and the χ2 test to explore demographic differences and responses.

Results: A total of 230 residents (response rate = 54.76%) and 241 mentors (response rate = 53.79%) provided effective responses. A significant majority of both residents (201, 87.39%) and mentors (216, 89.63%) reported frequent engagements with pediatric mental health patients. Additionally, a considerable portion in both groups (70.43% of the residents and 59.34% of the mentors) indicated experiencing moderate to high stress levels in their work with these patients, primarily due to inadequate training in CAP. Only 37.39% of the residents and 21.99% of the mentors expressed satisfaction with current training offerings. Notably, substantial support exists among both residents (77.82%) and mentors (85.89%) for expanding CAP training programs.

Conclusions: This study highlights a critical gap in CAP expertise among psychiatry professionals in China, mirrored by general dissatisfaction with existing training frameworks. There is strong, evidence-based support for the expansion of CAP training within residency programs, which is imperative to bolster the competence of CAMHS providers.

Clinical Trial Number: Not applicable.