Laura Roberts, MD, MA
Katharine Dexter McCormick and Stanley McCormick Memorial Professor and Professor, by courtesy, of Psychology
Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Bio
Dr. Laura Roberts serves as Chairman and the Katharine Dexter McCormick and Stanley McCormick Memorial Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Stanford University School of Medicine as well as serves in a number of leadership roles at Stanford University and in the Stanford Medicine enterprise. She is a physician-scientist in academic medicine and an internationally recognized scholar in bioethics, psychiatry, medicine, and medical education. Dr. Roberts' early work elevated the perspectives of key stakeholders in psychiatric research, engaging with individuals with lived experience of mental and physical disorders, investigators, community members, and policymakers. Over two decades, Dr. Roberts has received scientific, peer-reviewed funding from the National Institutes of Health and Department of Energy, as well as private foundations to perform empirical studies of modern ethical issues in research, clinical care, and health policy, with a particular focus on vulnerable and special populations.
Dr. Roberts has written hundreds of peer-reviewed articles and other scholarly works, and she has written or edited many books in the areas of professionalism and ethics in medicine, professional development for physicians, and major texts in clinical psychiatry. Dr. Roberts is the Editor-in-Chief of the journal Academic Medicine and has served as Editor-in-Chief, Books for the American Psychiatric Association since 2016. Dr. Roberts also served as the Editor-in-Chief for the journal Academic Psychiatry from 2002-2019 and she also serves as an editorial board member and peer reviewer for many scientific and education journals.
Having received her Bachelor of Arts in History and Master of Arts in the Conceptual Foundations of Science from the University of Chicago, she completed her medical degree and a fellowship in clinical medical ethics at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine. Dr. Roberts completed her residency training in psychiatry at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine, where she also received additional clinical preparation in child and adolescent psychiatry. Dr. Roberts served on the faculty of the University of New Mexico School of Medicine for nine years, performing evidence-based ethics research, administration, education, and clinical work in the specialized area of consultation-liaison psychiatry. While serving as Professor and Vice Chairman for her Department, Dr. Roberts established the University of New Mexico Institute for Ethics and was appointed the Jack and Donna Rust Professor of Biomedical Ethics prior to her departure in 2003. She then moved to the Medical College of Wisconsin, where for seven years she served as chairman of the Department of Psychiatry and the Charles E. Kubly Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine.
Clinical Focus
- Psychiatry
- Psychosomatic Medicine
- Adult, Child, and Adolescent Psychiatry
- Clinical Ethics
- Physician Well-being
- Collaborative care, Integrative Medicine
Administrative Appointments
-
Editor-in-Chief, Academic Medicine (2019 - Present)
-
Editor-in-Chief, Books, American Psychiatric Association (2016 - Present)
-
Editor-in-Chief, Academic Psychiatry (2002 - 2019)
-
Chairman, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine (2010 - Present)
-
Chief, Psychiatry Service, Stanford Hospital and Clinics (2010 - Present)
Honors & Awards
-
Vestermark Award, American Psychiatric Association (2023)
-
Ethics Prize, The International College of Neuropsychopharmacology (2022)
-
Lifetime Service Award, American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training (2019)
-
Carol Davis Ethics Award, American Psychiatric Association (2016)
-
MacLean Center Prize in Clinical Ethics, University of Chicago, MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics (2015)
-
Joan and Stanford Alexander Award in Psychiatry, The Menninger Department of Psychiatry (2015)
-
Bowis Award, American College of Psychiatrists (2015)
-
Harold Cooper Lectureship, The University of Texas, Health Science Center at Houston (2014)
-
Distinguished Service Award, American Psychiatric Association (2014)
-
Distinguished Psychiatrist Award, American Psychiatric Association (2011)
-
Lifetime Achievement Award, Association for Academic Psychiatry (2010)
-
University of Toronto Centennial Award for Leading International Psychiatric Educator, University of Toronto Department of Psychiatry Centennial Celebration (2008)
-
Distinguished Life Fellow, Association for Academic Psychiatry (2006-present)
-
Fellow, American Psychopathological Association (2005-present)
-
Distinguished Psychiatrist Award, American Psychiatric Association (2005)
-
Fellow, Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine (2004-present)
-
Fellow, American Psychiatric Association (2003-present)
-
Nancy C.A. Roeske, M.D., Certificate of Recognition for Excellence in Medical Student Education, American Psychiatric Association (2001)
-
Faculty Teaching Excellence Award, Education Council, University of New Mexico School of Medicine (1998)
-
Medical Education Scholar, University of New Mexico School of Medicine (1998)
-
Deborah J. Harrington Award, Department of Psychiatry, University of New Mexico School of Medicine (1998)
-
Robert Kellner Teaching Award, Department of Psychiatry, University of New Mexico School of Medicine (1997)
-
Rosenbaum Faculty Award, Department of Psychiatry, University of New Mexico School of Medicine (1997)
-
Best Doctors in America, Best Doctors Inc. (1996-present)
-
Senescu Award, University of New Mexico School of Medicine (1993)
-
Ethel Ginsburg Fellow, Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (1992-1993)
-
Laughlin Fellow, American College of Psychiatrists (1992)
-
Sol W. Ginsburg Fellow, Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (1990-1992)
-
Upjohn Award in Medicine for Outstanding Achievement, University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine (1988)
-
American Medical Women's Association Award for Scholastic Achievement, University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine (1988)
-
Rock Sleyster Scholar, American Medical Association (1987)
Professional Education
-
Fellowship: Pritzker School of Medicine University of Chicago Registrar (1989) IL
-
Medical Education: Pritzker School of Medicine University of Chicago Registrar (1988) IL
-
Board Recertification, American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, Psychiatry (2014)
-
Board Recertification, American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, Psychiatry (2004)
-
Board Certification: American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, Psychiatry (1994)
-
Fellowship: University of New Mexico School of Medicine (1994) NM
-
Residency: University of New Mexico School of Medicine (1993) NM
-
MA, University of Chicago, Philosophy (1983)
-
BA, University of Chicago, Social Studies of Science & Med (1982)
Current Research and Scholarly Interests
Dr. Roberts serves as Chairman and Katharine Dexter McCormick and Stanley McCormick Memorial Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine. She is a nationally recognized scholar and leader in ethics, psychiatry, medicine, and medical education. Dr. Roberts has performed numerous empirical studies of contemporary ethics issues in medicine and health policy and has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Energy, the National Alliance of Schizophrenia and Depression, the Arnold P. Gold Foundation, and other private and public foundations.
2024-25 Courses
-
Independent Studies (6)
- Directed Reading in Psychiatry
PSYC 299 (Aut, Win, Spr, Sum) - Graduate Research
PSYC 399 (Aut, Win, Spr, Sum) - Master's Degree Project
SYMSYS 290 (Aut, Win, Spr) - Medical Scholars Research
PSYC 370 (Aut, Win, Spr, Sum) - Teaching in Psychiatry
PSYC 290 (Aut, Win, Spr, Sum) - Undergraduate Research, Independent Study, or Directed Reading
PSYC 199 (Aut, Win, Spr, Sum)
- Directed Reading in Psychiatry
All Publications
-
Understanding Physician's Perspectives on AI in Health Care: Protocol for a Sequential Multiple Assignment Randomized Vignette Study.
JMIR research protocols
2024; 13: e54787
Abstract
As the availability and performance of artificial intelligence (AI)-based clinical decision support (CDS) systems improve, physicians and other care providers poised to be on the front lines will be increasingly tasked with using these tools in patient care and incorporating their outputs into clinical decision-making processes. Vignette studies provide a means to explore emerging hypotheses regarding how context-specific factors, such as clinical risk, the amount of information provided about the AI, and the AI result, may impact physician acceptance and use of AI-based CDS tools. To best anticipate how such factors influence the decision-making of frontline physicians in clinical scenarios involving AI decision-support tools, hypothesis-driven research is needed that enables scenario testing before the implementation and deployment of these tools.This study's objectives are to (1) design an original, web-based vignette-based survey that features hypothetical scenarios based on emerging or real-world applications of AI-based CDS systems that will vary systematically by features related to clinical risk, the amount of information provided about the AI, and the AI result; and (2) test and determine causal effects of specific factors on the judgments and perceptions salient to physicians' clinical decision-making.US-based physicians with specialties in family or internal medicine will be recruited through email and mail (target n=420). Through a web-based survey, participants will be randomized to a 3-part "sequential multiple assignment randomization trial (SMART) vignette" detailing a hypothetical clinical scenario involving an AI decision support tool. The SMART vignette design is similar to the SMART design but adapted to a survey design. Each respondent will be randomly assigned to 1 of the possible vignette variations of the factors we are testing at each stage, which include the level of clinical risk, the amount of information provided about the AI, and the certainty of the AI output. Respondents will be given questions regarding their hypothetical decision-making in response to the hypothetical scenarios.The study is currently in progress and data collection is anticipated to be completed in 2024.The web-based vignette study will provide information on how contextual factors such as clinical risk, the amount of information provided about an AI tool, and the AI result influence physicians' reactions to hypothetical scenarios that are based on emerging applications of AI in frontline health care settings. Our newly proposed "SMART vignette" design offers several benefits not afforded by the extensively used traditional vignette design, due to the 2 aforementioned features. These advantages are (1) increased validity of analyses targeted at understanding the impact of a factor on the decision outcome, given previous outcomes and other contextual factors; and (2) balanced sample sizes across groups. This study will generate a better understanding of physician decision-making within this context.DERR1-10.2196/54787.
View details for DOI 10.2196/54787
View details for PubMedID 38573756
-
Academic machine learning researchers' ethical perspectives on algorithm development for health care: a qualitative study.
Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA
2023
Abstract
We set out to describe academic machine learning (ML) researchers' ethical considerations regarding the development of ML tools intended for use in clinical care.We conducted in-depth, semistructured interviews with a sample of ML researchers in medicine (N = 10) as part of a larger study investigating stakeholders' ethical considerations in the translation of ML tools in medicine. We used a qualitative descriptive design, applying conventional qualitative content analysis in order to allow participant perspectives to emerge directly from the data.Every participant viewed their algorithm development work as holding ethical significance. While participants shared positive attitudes toward continued ML innovation, they described concerns related to data sampling and labeling (eg, limitations to mitigating bias; ensuring the validity and integrity of data), and algorithm training and testing (eg, selecting quantitative targets; assessing reproducibility). Participants perceived a need to increase interdisciplinary training across stakeholders and to envision more coordinated and embedded approaches to addressing ethics issues.Participants described key areas where increased support for ethics may be needed; technical challenges affecting clinical acceptability; and standards related to scientific integrity, beneficence, and justice that may be higher in medicine compared to other industries engaged in ML innovation. Our results help shed light on the perspectives of ML researchers in medicine regarding the range of ethical issues they encounter or anticipate in their work, including areas where more attention may be needed to support the successful development and integration of medical ML tools.
View details for DOI 10.1093/jamia/ocad238
View details for PubMedID 38069455
-
Giving Friendship Proper Emphasis in Academic Medicine
ACADEMIC MEDICINE
2023; 98 (12): 1341-1343
View details for DOI 10.1097/ACM.0000000000005470
View details for Web of Science ID 001111214200024
View details for PubMedID 38029307
-
Balancing Innovation and Cybersecurity in Medical Schools and Their Related Academic Health Systems.
Academic medicine : journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges
2023; 98 (11): 1233-1234
View details for DOI 10.1097/ACM.0000000000005436
View details for PubMedID 37881963
-
Physicians' and Machine Learning Researchers' Perspectives on Ethical Issues in the Early Development of Clinical Machine Learning Tools: Qualitative Interview Study.
JMIR AI
2023; 2: e47449
Abstract
Innovative tools leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are rapidly being developed for medicine, with new applications emerging in prediction, diagnosis, and treatment across a range of illnesses, patient populations, and clinical procedures. One barrier for successful innovation is the scarcity of research in the current literature seeking and analyzing the views of AI or ML researchers and physicians to support ethical guidance.This study aims to describe, using a qualitative approach, the landscape of ethical issues that AI or ML researchers and physicians with professional exposure to AI or ML tools observe or anticipate in the development and use of AI and ML in medicine.Semistructured interviews were used to facilitate in-depth, open-ended discussion, and a purposeful sampling technique was used to identify and recruit participants. We conducted 21 semistructured interviews with a purposeful sample of AI and ML researchers (n=10) and physicians (n=11). We asked interviewees about their views regarding ethical considerations related to the adoption of AI and ML in medicine. Interviews were transcribed and deidentified by members of our research team. Data analysis was guided by the principles of qualitative content analysis. This approach, in which transcribed data is broken down into descriptive units that are named and sorted based on their content, allows for the inductive emergence of codes directly from the data set.Notably, both researchers and physicians articulated concerns regarding how AI and ML innovations are shaped in their early development (ie, the problem formulation stage). Considerations encompassed the assessment of research priorities and motivations, clarity and centeredness of clinical needs, professional and demographic diversity of research teams, and interdisciplinary knowledge generation and collaboration. Phase-1 ethical issues identified by interviewees were notably interdisciplinary in nature and invited questions regarding how to align priorities and values across disciplines and ensure clinical value throughout the development and implementation of medical AI and ML. Relatedly, interviewees suggested interdisciplinary solutions to these issues, for example, more resources to support knowledge generation and collaboration between developers and physicians, engagement with a broader range of stakeholders, and efforts to increase diversity in research broadly and within individual teams.These qualitative findings help elucidate several ethical challenges anticipated or encountered in AI and ML for health care. Our study is unique in that its use of open-ended questions allowed interviewees to explore their sentiments and perspectives without overreliance on implicit assumptions about what AI and ML currently are or are not. This analysis, however, does not include the perspectives of other relevant stakeholder groups, such as patients, ethicists, industry researchers or representatives, or other health care professionals beyond physicians. Additional qualitative and quantitative research is needed to reproduce and build on these findings.
View details for DOI 10.2196/47449
View details for PubMedID 38875536
View details for PubMedCentralID PMC11041441
-
Strengthening Academic Medicine's Response to Humanitarian Concerns.
Academic medicine : journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges
2023; 98 (3): 291-293
View details for DOI 10.1097/ACM.0000000000005124
View details for PubMedID 36811920
-
Factors Influencing Perceived Helpfulness and Participation in Innovative Research: A Pilot Study of Individuals with and without Mood Symptoms.
Ethics & behavior
2022; 32 (7): 601-617
Abstract
Little is known about how individuals with and without mood disorders perceive the inherent risks and helpfulness of participating in innovative psychiatric research, or about the factors that influence their willingness to participate. We conducted an online survey with 80 individuals (self-reported mood disorder [n = 25], self-reported good health [n = 55]) recruited via MTurk. We assessed respondents' perceptions of risk and helpfulness in study vignettes associated with two innovative research projects (intravenous ketamine therapy and wearable devices), as well as their willingness to participate in these projects. Respondents with and without mood disorders perceived risk similarly across projects. Respondents with no mood disorders viewed both projects as more helpful to society than to research volunteers, while respondents with mood disorders viewed the projects as equally helpful to volunteers and society. Individuals with mood disorders perceived ketamine research, and the two projects on average, as more helpful to research volunteers than did individuals without mood disorders. Our findings add to a limited empirical literature on the perspectives of volunteers in innovative psychiatric research.
View details for DOI 10.1080/10508422.2021.1957678
View details for PubMedID 36200069
View details for PubMedCentralID PMC9528999
-
Self-reported influences on willingness to receive COVID-19 vaccines among physically ill, mentally ill, and healthy individuals.
Journal of psychiatric research
2022; 155: 501-510
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: Individuals with mental and physical disorders have been disproportionately affected by adverse health outcomes due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and yet vaccine hesitancy persists despite clear evidence of health benefits. Therefore, our study explored factors influencing willingness to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.METHODS: Individuals with mental illness (n=332), physical illness (n=331), and no health issues (n=328) were recruited via Amazon Mechanical Turk. Participants rated willingness to obtain a fully approved COVID-19 vaccine or a vaccine approved only for experimental/emergency use and influences in six domains upon their views. We examined differences by health status.RESULTS: Participants across groups were moderately willing to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. Perceived risk was negatively associated with willingness. Participants differentiated between vaccine risk by approval stage and were less willing to receive an experimental vaccine. Individuals with mental illness rated risk of both vaccines similarly to healthy individuals. Individuals with physical illness expressed less willingness to receive an experimental vaccine. Domain influences differently affected willingness by health status as well as by vaccine approval status.CONCLUSIONS: Our findings are reassuring regarding the ability of people with mental disorders to appreciate risk in medical decision-making and the ability of people of varied health backgrounds to distinguish between the benefits and risks of clinical care and research, refuting the prevailing notions of psychiatric exceptionalism and therapeutic misconception. Our findings shine a light on potential paths forward to support vaccine acceptance.
View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2022.09.017
View details for PubMedID 36191518
-
Influence of Dispositional Optimism on Ethically Salient Research Perspectives: A Pilot Study.
Ethics & human research
2022; 44 (3): 12-23
Abstract
Research participants should be drawn as fairly as possible from the potential volunteer population. Underlying personality traits are underexplored as factors influencing research decision-making. Dispositional optimism, known to affect coping, physical health, and psychological well-being, has been minimally studied with respect to research-related attitudes. We conducted an exploratory, online survey with 151 individuals (with self-reported mental illness [n = 50], physical illness [n = 51], or neither [n = 50]) recruited via MTurk. We evaluated associations between dispositional optimism (assessed with the Life Orientation Test-Revised) and general research attitudes, perceived protectiveness of five research safeguards, and willingness to participate in research using safeguards. Strongly optimistic respondents expressed more positive research attitudes and perceived four safeguards as more positively influencing willingness to participate. Optimism was positively associated with expressed willingness to participate in clinical research. Our findings add to a limited literature on the influence of individual traits on ethically salient research perspectives.
View details for DOI 10.1002/eahr.500126
View details for PubMedID 35543260
-
Maternal Perceptions of Safeguards for Research Involving Children.
Journal of child and family studies
2022; 31 (5): 1220-1231
Abstract
The vitality of clinical research and the health of the public relies on continued efforts to engage children in clinical research in a fully protected and ethically robust manner. Parents serve as proxy decision-makers assessing the risks and benefits of any given study in order to do what is in the best interest of their child. This study investigated maternal perceptions of research safeguards and mothers' willingness to enroll their children in clinical research studies. We hypothesized that mothers' perceptions of the protectiveness of safeguard procedures utilized in clinical research would be associated with mothers' willingness to enroll their children in research studies with such safeguards. Through a survey conducted via Amazon Mechanical Turk, mothers were asked to rate the perceived protectiveness of four safeguard procedures (confidential data coding, data and safety monitoring boards (DSMBs), institutional review boards (IRBs), and informed consent) and the degree to which they were willing to have their child participate in research studies in the presence of each of the four safeguard procedures. Respondents generally perceived safeguard procedures to be protective. Mothers' trust in researchers' honesty positively impacted perceptions of the protectiveness of research safeguard procedures and willingness to enroll children in research. Mothers of only healthy children perceived research safeguards to be more protective than mothers with at least one child with at least one health issue. This study provides insight into whether maternal perceptions of the protectiveness of different safeguard procedures are associated with mothers' willingness to enroll their children in research.
View details for DOI 10.1007/s10826-021-02037-8
View details for PubMedID 35875400
View details for PubMedCentralID PMC9307055
-
Awards for Excellence in Psychiatric Education: Target Groups, Purposes, and Value.
Academic psychiatry : the journal of the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training and the Association for Academic Psychiatry
2022
View details for DOI 10.1007/s40596-022-01609-0
View details for PubMedID 35237940
-
Stakeholders' Perspectives regarding Participation in Neuromodulation-Based Dementia Intervention Research.
Journal of empirical research on human research ethics : JERHRE
2021: 15562646211060997
Abstract
This study evaluated stakeholders' perspectives regarding participation in two hypothetical neuromodulation trials focused on individuals with Alzheimer's disease and related disorders (ADRDs). Stakeholders (i.e., individuals at risk for ADRDs [n=56], individuals with experience as a caregiver for someone with a cognitive disorder [n=60], and comparison respondents [n=124]) were recruited via MTurk. Primary outcomes were willingness to enroll (or enroll one's loved one), feeling lucky to have the opportunity to enroll, and feeling obligated to enroll in two protocols (transcranial magnetic stimulation, TMS; deep brain stimulation, DBS). Relative to the Comparison group, the At Risk group endorsed higher levels of "feeling lucky" regarding both research protocols, and higher willingness to participate in the TMS protocol. These findings provide tentative reassurance regarding the nature of decision making regarding neurotechnology-based research on ADRDs. Further work is needed to evaluate the full range of potential influences on research participation.
View details for DOI 10.1177/15562646211060997
View details for PubMedID 34870511
-
Factors Influencing Perceived Helpfulness and Participation in Innovative Research:A Pilot Study of Individuals with and without Mood Symptoms
ETHICS & BEHAVIOR
2021
View details for DOI 10.1080/10508422.2021.1957678
View details for Web of Science ID 000698691500001
-
Maternal Perceptions of Safeguards for Research Involving Children
JOURNAL OF CHILD AND FAMILY STUDIES
2021
View details for DOI 10.1007/s10826-021-02037-8
View details for Web of Science ID 000682656300001
-
Internet gaming disorder and comorbidities among campus-dwelling U.S. university students.
Psychiatry research
2021; 302: 114043
Abstract
This study investigates the prevalence and associations of DSM-5 Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) with sleep impairment, daytime functioning, psychiatric disorders, and health status among young adults living in student houses on the campus of an American university. A random sample of students living on the campus underwent phone interviews during the 2007 & 2015 academic years. The sample included 1,871 undergraduate and 1,113 graduate students (2,984 in total). Students were considered to have IGD if they recreationally spent ≥15 hours per week on an electronic device (39.4% of the students) and displayed ≥5 addiction-related symptoms; 5.3% of the sample met these 2 criteria. In bivariate analyses, IGD students had a greater proportion of suicidal thoughts (16.9% vs. 6.6%), suicide attempts (9.7% vs. 3.3%), major depressive disorder (9.7% vs. 3.0%), and social anxiety disorder (24.8% vs. 8.5%) than the no-IGD group. In multivariate analyses, IGD predicted non-restorative sleep, excessive fatigue, less close friends, depressive mood, bipolar disorder, social anxiety disorder, and a poor to fair health status. IGD is highly prevalent in this student population, affecting one in 20 students. IGD was associated with a variety of sleep, psychiatric, and health factors which may impact functioning and academic performance.
View details for DOI 10.1016/j.psychres.2021.114043
View details for PubMedID 34129998
-
Perceived protectiveness of research safeguards and influences on willingness to participate in research: A novel MTurk pilot study.
Journal of psychiatric research
2021; 138: 200–206
Abstract
Little is known about how individuals with mood disorders view the protectiveness of research safeguards, and whether their views affect their willingness to participate in psychiatric research. We conducted an online survey with 80 individuals (self-reported mood disorder [n=25], self-reported good health [n=55]) recruited via MTurk. We assessed respondents' perceptions of the protectiveness of five common research safeguards, as well as their willingness to participate in research that incorporates each safeguard. Perceived protectiveness was strongly related to willingness to participate in research for four of the safeguards. Our findings add to a limited literature on the motivations and perspectives of key stakeholders in psychiatric research.
View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2021.04.005
View details for PubMedID 33865169
-
Statutes Governing Default Surrogate Decision Making for Mental Health Treatment.
Psychiatric services (Washington, D.C.)
2020: appips201900320
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: The authors sought to describe state-to-state variations in the scope of statutory authority granted to default surrogates who decide on mental health treatment for incapacitated patients.METHODS: The authors investigated state statutes delineating the powers of default surrogates to make decisions about mental health treatment. Statutes in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia were identified and analyzed independently by three reviewers. Research was conducted from August 2017 to November 2018 and updated in January 2020.RESULTS: State statutes varied in approaches to default surrogate decision making for mental health treatment. Eight states' statutes delegate broad authority to surrogates, whereas 25 states prohibit surrogates from giving consent for specific therapies. Thirteen states are silent on whether surrogates may make decisions.CONCLUSIONS: Heterogeneity among state statutory laws contributes to complexity of treating patients without decisional capacity. This variability encumbers efforts to support surrogates and clinicians and may contribute to health disparities.
View details for DOI 10.1176/appi.ps.201900320
View details for PubMedID 33050797
-
How Support of Early Career Researchers Can Reset Science in the Post-COVID19 World.
Cell
2020
Abstract
The COVID19 crisis has magnified the issues plaguing academic science, but it has also provided the scientific establishment with an unprecedented opportunity to reset. Shoring up the foundation of academic science will require a concerted effort between funding agencies, universities, and the public to rethink how we support scientists, with a special emphasis on early career researchers.
View details for DOI 10.1016/j.cell.2020.05.045
View details for PubMedID 32533917
-
In Reply to Kassam and Ellaway.
Academic medicine : journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges
2020; 95 (1): 10
View details for DOI 10.1097/ACM.0000000000003035
View details for PubMedID 31860620
-
The Therapeutic Relationship
LEARNING SUPPORTIVE PSYCHOTHERAPY: AN ILLUSTRATED GUIDE, 2ND EDITION
2020: 105–20
View details for Web of Science ID 000553660000011
-
Principles and Mode of Action
LEARNING SUPPORTIVE PSYCHOTHERAPY: AN ILLUSTRATED GUIDE, 2ND EDITION
2020: 13–31
View details for Web of Science ID 000553660000003
-
Applicability to Special Populations
LEARNING SUPPORTIVE PSYCHOTHERAPY: AN ILLUSTRATED GUIDE, 2ND EDITION
2020: 141–61
View details for Web of Science ID 000553660000008
-
Questions for Self-Study
LEARNING SUPPORTIVE PSYCHOTHERAPY: AN ILLUSTRATED GUIDE, 2ND EDITION
2020: 179–90
View details for Web of Science ID 000553660000010
-
Evaluating Competence and Outcome Research
LEARNING SUPPORTIVE PSYCHOTHERAPY: AN ILLUSTRATED GUIDE, 2ND EDITION
2020: 163–77
View details for Web of Science ID 000553660000009
-
Learning Supportive Psychotherapy An Illustrated Guide Second Edition Introduction
LEARNING SUPPORTIVE PSYCHOTHERAPY: AN ILLUSTRATED GUIDE, 2ND EDITION
2020: IX-+
View details for Web of Science ID 000553660000001
-
Evolution of the Concept of Supportive Psychotherapy
LEARNING SUPPORTIVE PSYCHOTHERAPY: AN ILLUSTRATED GUIDE, 2ND EDITION
2020: 1–12
View details for Web of Science ID 000553660000002
-
General Framework of Supportive Psychotherapy
LEARNING SUPPORTIVE PSYCHOTHERAPY: AN ILLUSTRATED GUIDE, 2ND EDITION
2020: 89–104
View details for Web of Science ID 000553660000006
-
Crisis Intervention
LEARNING SUPPORTIVE PSYCHOTHERAPY: AN ILLUSTRATED GUIDE, 2ND EDITION
2020: 121–40
View details for Web of Science ID 000553660000007
-
Assessment, Case Formulation, and Goal Setting
LEARNING SUPPORTIVE PSYCHOTHERAPY: AN ILLUSTRATED GUIDE, 2ND EDITION
2020: 33–52
View details for Web of Science ID 000553660000004
-
Techniques
LEARNING SUPPORTIVE PSYCHOTHERAPY: AN ILLUSTRATED GUIDE, 2ND EDITION
2020: 53–88
View details for Web of Science ID 000553660000005
-
Attitudes of Mothers Regarding Willingness to Enroll Their Children in Research.
Journal of empirical research on human research ethics : JERHRE
2020: 1556264620927583
Abstract
This study assessed mothers' perspectives regarding research involvement by their children, factors that might affect perceptions of research risks, and attitudes regarding willingness to enroll children in research. Participants completed a survey on Amazon Mechanical Turk. Mothers were less inclined to enroll children in research involving procedures posing higher risk (regression coefficient = -0.51). Mothers without mental health issues with children without health issues were more sensitive to risk than mothers without mental health issues with children with health issues (estimated difference = 0.49). Mothers with mental health issues were more willing than mothers without mental health issues to enroll children in research (regression coefficient = -0.90). Among mothers with mental health issues, having a child with a health issue was associated with increased willingness to enroll in research, compared with having children without health issues (estimated difference = 0.65).
View details for DOI 10.1177/1556264620927583
View details for PubMedID 32552481
-
Brain-Responsive Neurostimulation for Loss of Control Eating: Early Feasibility Study.
Neurosurgery
2020
Abstract
Loss of control (LOC) is a pervasive feature of binge eating, which contributes significantly to the growing epidemic of obesity; approximately 80 million US adults are obese. Brain-responsive neurostimulation guided by the delta band was previously found to block binge-eating behavior in mice. Following novel preclinical work and a human case study demonstrating an association between the delta band and reward anticipation, the US Food and Drug Administration approved an Investigational Device Exemption for a first-in-human study.To assess feasibility, safety, and nonfutility of brain-responsive neurostimulation for LOC eating in treatment-refractory obesity.This is a single-site, early feasibility study with a randomized, single-blinded, staggered-onset design. Six subjects will undergo bilateral brain-responsive neurostimulation of the nucleus accumbens for LOC eating using the RNS® System (NeuroPace Inc). Eligible participants must have treatment-refractory obesity with body mass index ≥ 45 kg/m2. Electrophysiological signals of LOC will be characterized using real-time recording capabilities coupled with synchronized video monitoring. Effects on other eating disorder pathology, mood, neuropsychological profile, metabolic syndrome, and nutrition will also be assessed.Safety/feasibility of brain-responsive neurostimulation of the nucleus accumbens will be examined. The primary success criterion is a decrease of ≥1 LOC eating episode/week based on a 28-d average in ≥50% of subjects after 6 mo of responsive neurostimulation.This study is the first to use brain-responsive neurostimulation for obesity; this approach represents a paradigm shift for intractable mental health disorders.
View details for DOI 10.1093/neuros/nyaa300
View details for PubMedID 32717033
-
Recruitment of Black Men and Women into Academic Psychiatry.
Academic psychiatry : the journal of the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training and the Association for Academic Psychiatry
2019
View details for DOI 10.1007/s40596-019-01085-z
View details for PubMedID 31342432
-
Attitudes Regarding Enrollment in a Genetic Research Project: An Informed Consent Simulation Study Comparing Views of People With Depression, Diabetes, and Neither Condition.
Journal of empirical research on human research ethics : JERHRE
2019: 1556264619862467
Abstract
In this study, participants with a self-reported history of depression, diabetes, or no illness underwent a simulated informed consent process for a hypothetical genetic study related to depression or diabetes. Participants completed a survey assessing their perceived understanding of the research process, perceptions of its risks and benefits, their satisfaction with the informed consent process, and their readiness to make a hypothetical enrollment decision. All participants indicated strong readiness to make an enrollment decision regarding the research characterized in the simulation. Participants reported understanding the consent process relatively well and being generally satisfied with it. Greater concerns were expressed regarding psychosocial risks than biological risks for genetic studies on mental disorders. Our study documented positive attitudes toward volunteering for research that involved the collection of genetic data.
View details for DOI 10.1177/1556264619862467
View details for PubMedID 31328612
-
Ethical Considerations in Research on Suicide Prediction: Necessity as the Mother of Invention.
JAMA psychiatry
2019
View details for DOI 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2019.1228
View details for PubMedID 31268523
-
An Update on Trainee Wellness: Some Progress and a Long Way to Go.
Academic psychiatry : the journal of the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training and the Association for Academic Psychiatry
2019
View details for DOI 10.1007/s40596-019-01082-2
View details for PubMedID 31236856
-
Institutional Review Board Approval as an Educational Tool
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2019; 43 (3): 285–89
View details for DOI 10.1007/s40596-019-01027-9
View details for Web of Science ID 000468745800007
-
The Psychiatrist Being Interviewed by the Media
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2019; 43 (3): 270–74
View details for DOI 10.1007/s40596-018-0970-y
View details for Web of Science ID 000468745800004
-
What Are Some Stressful Adversities in Psychiatry Residency Training, and How Should They Be Managed Professionally?
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2019; 43 (2): 145–50
View details for DOI 10.1007/s40596-019-01026-w
View details for Web of Science ID 000461873400001
-
Rural Mental Health Training: an Emerging Imperative to Address Health Disparities
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2019; 43 (1): 1–5
View details for DOI 10.1007/s40596-018-1012-5
View details for Web of Science ID 000459533100001
-
Ethical Use of Student Profiles to Predict and Prevent Development of Depression Symptoms During Medical School
ACADEMIC MEDICINE
2019; 94 (2): 162–65
View details for DOI 10.1097/ACM.0000000000002436
View details for Web of Science ID 000461038800011
-
Institutional Review Board Approval as an Educational Tool.
Academic psychiatry : the journal of the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training and the Association for Academic Psychiatry
2019
View details for PubMedID 30706434
-
What Are Some Stressful Adversities in Psychiatry Residency Training, and How Should They Be Managed Professionally?
Academic psychiatry : the journal of the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training and the Association for Academic Psychiatry
2019
View details for PubMedID 30697662
-
Do human subject safeguards matter to potential participants in psychiatric genetic research?
Journal of psychiatric research
2019; 116: 95–103
Abstract
Despite longstanding concerns about the adequacy of human research protections in mental illness investigations, minimal work has focused on the perspectives of key stakeholders regarding these safeguards. This investigation examined the perspectives of potential research participants regarding safeguards for psychiatric genetic research. Individuals with mental illness (n = 71), first-degree family members of individuals with mental illness (n = 54), and individuals with no personal or close family history of mental illness (n = 57) provided responses to items regarding perceptions of: 1) protectiveness of a range of research safeguards in genetic research on mental illness; 2) influence of these safeguards on research participation decision-making; and 3) importance of these safeguards depending on the nature of the research (i.e., genetic vs. non-genetic mental illness research; and genetic research on mental illness vs. physical illness). Potential research participants perceived existing safeguard procedures as generally protective. The three groups did not differ in their ratings of protectiveness, with the exception of the safeguard domain of "Informed Consent or Alternative Decision-Making Procedures," which was viewed as more protective by family members of people with mental illness than by individuals with mental illness or comparison participants. Safeguard procedures were perceived as strongly influential with respect to willingness to enroll in psychiatric genetic research. These findings suggest that the presence of safeguards positively influences enrollment decision-making by research volunteers and indicate that potential psychiatric genetic research participants find safeguards to be protective, underscoring the responsibility to implement safeguard practices conscientiously.
View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2019.06.004
View details for PubMedID 31226581
-
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Patients
AMERICAN PSYCHIATRIC ASSOCIATION PUBLISHING TEXTBOOK OF PSYCHIATRY, 7TH EDITION
2019: 1185–1212
View details for Web of Science ID 000550979400044
-
Assessment of Suicide Risk
AMERICAN PSYCHIATRIC ASSOCIATION PUBLISHING TEXTBOOK OF PSYCHIATRY, 7TH EDITION
2019: 91–110
View details for Web of Science ID 000550979400006
-
The American Psychiatric Association Publishing TEXTBOOK OF PSYCHIATRY SEVENTH EDITION Preface
AMERICAN PSYCHIATRIC ASSOCIATION PUBLISHING TEXTBOOK OF PSYCHIATRY, 7TH EDITION
2019: XXXIII-XXXV
View details for Web of Science ID 000550979400002
-
#MeToo and Female Patients with Major Mental Disorders: What Should Academic Psychiatry Do?
Academic psychiatry : the journal of the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training and the Association for Academic Psychiatry
2019
View details for DOI 10.1007/s40596-019-01136-5
View details for PubMedID 31664690
-
Suicide risk among gender and sexual minority college students: The roles of victimization, discrimination, connectedness, and identity affirmation.
Journal of psychiatric research
2019; 121: 182–88
Abstract
Little is known about how victimization and discrimination relate to suicide risk among sexual and gender minority (SGM) college students, or what is protective for these students. The current study will: 1.) determine the extent to which interpersonal victimization, discrimination, identity affirmation, and social connectedness are associated with suicide risk characteristics, and if race and/or ethnicity moderates this association; 2.) examine whether identity affirmation and social connectedness are protective against associations between victimization or discrimination and suicide risk characteristics.Participants were 868 students (63.6% female) from four United States universities who completed an online screening survey and met the following study inclusion criteria: self-identification as gender and/or sexual minority, endorsement of at least one suicide risk characteristic and no current use of mental health services. Participants also completed measures that assessed demographics, non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), victimization, discrimination, connectedness, and LGBTQ identity affirmation.Victimization was positively associated with depression severity, suicidal ideation, alcohol misuse, suicide attempt history, and NSSI. Discrimination was positively associated with depression severity, suicide attempt history, and NSSI. Connectedness was inversely associated with depression severity, suicidal ideation severity, suicide attempt history, and NSSI, and moderated the association between victimization and suicide attempt history. LGBTQ identity affirmation moderated the link between victimization and depression.Results suggest efforts to decrease victimization and discrimination and increase connectedness may decrease depressive morbidity and risks for self-harm among SGM college students. Further, increasing LGBTQ identity affirmation may buffer the impact of victimization on depression.
View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2019.11.013
View details for PubMedID 31837538
-
Safeguarding Participants in Psychiatric Genetic Research: Perspectives of Key Stakeholder Groups.
Ethics & human research
2019; 41 (6): 12–22
Abstract
Public trust in research depends on implementation of research protections. Genetic and psychiatric research may elicit "exceptionalism," the belief that these types of research deserve special protections. Genetic information has been viewed as different from other health information. Psychiatric research has been scrutinized based on concerns about the impact of psychiatric illness on individuals' abilities to make decisions. This study compared four stakeholder groups' attitudes toward research safeguards. Psychiatric genetic researchers and institutional review board chairs received structured surveys. Individuals with mental illness and family members participated in semistructured interviews. Paired sample t-tests were used to compare mean ratings of importance of safeguard procedures for genetic versus nongenetic research on physical versus mental illnesses. All groups provided higher ratings for the importance of safeguards for genetic research and for mental illness. Individuals with mental illness and family members rated the importance of safeguards more highly than researchers and chairs did. Results of generalized linear models showed significant effects of gender and ethnicity.
View details for DOI 10.1002/eahr.500034
View details for PubMedID 31743628
-
Clinical Manual for Assessment and Treatment of Suicidal Patients Second Edition Preface
CLINICAL MANUAL FOR ASSESSMENT AND TREATMENT OF SUICIDAL PATIENTS, 2ND EDITION
2019: XVII-+
View details for Web of Science ID 000550984500001
-
Suicidal Behavior and Use of Psychotropic Medications
CLINICAL MANUAL FOR ASSESSMENT AND TREATMENT OF SUICIDAL PATIENTS, 2ND EDITION
2019: 165–82
View details for Web of Science ID 000550984500007
-
Suicidality and Special Populations
CLINICAL MANUAL FOR ASSESSMENT AND TREATMENT OF SUICIDAL PATIENTS, 2ND EDITION
2019: 285–309
View details for Web of Science ID 000550984500011
-
Assessment and Case Conceptualization Fundamental Components of Effective Treatment
CLINICAL MANUAL FOR ASSESSMENT AND TREATMENT OF SUICIDAL PATIENTS, 2ND EDITION
2019: 87–116
View details for Web of Science ID 000550984500005
-
The Repetitiously Suicidal Patient An Intervention Approach for High-Risk Patients
CLINICAL MANUAL FOR ASSESSMENT AND TREATMENT OF SUICIDAL PATIENTS, 2ND EDITION
2019: 183–223
View details for Web of Science ID 000550984500008
-
The Clinician's Emotions, Values, Legal Exposure, and Ethics Global Issues in the Treatment of Suicidal Patients
CLINICAL MANUAL FOR ASSESSMENT AND TREATMENT OF SUICIDAL PATIENTS, 2ND EDITION
2019: 25–66
View details for Web of Science ID 000550984500003
-
Hospitals and Suicidal Behavior A Complex Relationship
CLINICAL MANUAL FOR ASSESSMENT AND TREATMENT OF SUICIDAL PATIENTS, 2ND EDITION
2019: 259–83
View details for Web of Science ID 000550984500010
-
Outpatient Interventions With Suicidal Patients Promoting Acceptance and Value-Based Problem Solving
CLINICAL MANUAL FOR ASSESSMENT AND TREATMENT OF SUICIDAL PATIENTS, 2ND EDITION
2019: 117–63
View details for Web of Science ID 000550984500006
-
Dimensions of Suicidal Behavior
CLINICAL MANUAL FOR ASSESSMENT AND TREATMENT OF SUICIDAL PATIENTS, 2ND EDITION
2019: 1–24
View details for Web of Science ID 000550984500002
-
Negative association of perceived risk and willingness to participate in innovative psychiatric research protocols.
Journal of psychiatric research
2019; 122: 9–16
Abstract
Psychiatric researchers grapple with concerns that individuals with mental illness may be less likely to appreciate risks of research participation, particularly compared to people not suffering from mental illness. Therefore, empirical studies that directly compare the perspectives of such individuals are needed. In addition, it is important to evaluate perspectives regarding varied types of research protocols, particularly as innovative psychiatric research protocols emerge. In this pilot study, respondents with a mood disorder (n = 25) as well as respondents without a mood disorder (n = 55) were recruited using Amazon's Mechanical Turk (MTurk) platform. These respondents were surveyed regarding four psychiatric research projects (i.e., experimental medication [pill form]; non-invasive magnetic brain stimulation; experimental medication [intravenous infusion]; and implantation of a device in the brain). Regardless of health status, respondents rated the four research protocols as somewhat to highly risky. The brain-device implant protocol was seen as the most risky, while the magnetic brain stimulation project was viewed as "somewhat risky". Respondents, on average and regardless of health status, rated their willingness at or below "somewhat willing." Respondents were least willing to participate in the brain-device implant protocol, whereas they were "somewhat willing" to participate in the magnetic brain stimulation protocol. Trust in medical research was negatively associated with perceived risk of research protocols. Perceived risk was negatively associated with willingness to participate, even when adjusting for potential confounders, suggesting that attunement to risk crosses diagnostic, gender, and ethnic categories, and is more salient to research decision-making than trust in medical research and dispositional optimism. The findings of this study may offer reassurance about the underlying decision-making processes of individuals considering participation in innovative neuroscience studies.
View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2019.12.010
View details for PubMedID 31891880
-
Ethical Considerations in Psychiatry
AMERICAN PSYCHIATRIC ASSOCIATION PUBLISHING TEXTBOOK OF PSYCHIATRY, 7TH EDITION
2019: 177–99
View details for Web of Science ID 000550979400009
-
Supportive Psychotherapy
AMERICAN PSYCHIATRIC ASSOCIATION PUBLISHING TEXTBOOK OF PSYCHIATRY, 7TH EDITION
2019: 999–1018
View details for Web of Science ID 000550979400036
-
Suicidal Patients in Primary Care Responding to the Challenge
CLINICAL MANUAL FOR ASSESSMENT AND TREATMENT OF SUICIDAL PATIENTS, 2ND EDITION
2019: 311–39
View details for Web of Science ID 000550984500012
-
Managing Suicidal Emergencies Using Crisis to Create Positive Change
CLINICAL MANUAL FOR ASSESSMENT AND TREATMENT OF SUICIDAL PATIENTS, 2ND EDITION
2019: 225–57
View details for Web of Science ID 000550984500009
-
A Basic Model of Suicidal Behavior A Learning-Based Problem-Solving Approach
CLINICAL MANUAL FOR ASSESSMENT AND TREATMENT OF SUICIDAL PATIENTS, 2ND EDITION
2019: 67–85
View details for Web of Science ID 000550984500004
-
Rural Mental Health Training: an Emerging Imperative to Address Health Disparities.
Academic psychiatry : the journal of the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training and the Association for Academic Psychiatry
2018
View details for PubMedID 30535843
-
Enhancing Empathy: a Role for Virtual Reality?
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2018; 42 (6): 747–52
View details for DOI 10.1007/s40596-018-0995-2
View details for Web of Science ID 000451388500001
-
Views of the importance of psychiatric genetic research by potential volunteers from stakeholder groups
JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRIC RESEARCH
2018; 106: 69–73
View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2018.09.011
View details for Web of Science ID 000450134000010
-
Perspectives of psychiatric investigators and IRB chairs regarding benefits of psychiatric genetics research
JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRIC RESEARCH
2018; 106: 54–60
View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2018.08.027
View details for Web of Science ID 000450134000008
-
Enhancing Empathy: a Role for Virtual Reality?
Academic psychiatry : the journal of the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training and the Association for Academic Psychiatry
2018
View details for PubMedID 30324398
-
Training as a Psychiatrist When Having a Psychiatric Illness.
Academic psychiatry : the journal of the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training and the Association for Academic Psychiatry
2018; 42 (5): 592-597
View details for DOI 10.1007/s40596-018-0963-x
View details for PubMedID 30105576
-
What Is Different About Applying to Medical School? (Positive) Implications for Academic Psychiatry
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2018; 42 (5): 691–93
View details for DOI 10.1007/s40596-018-0964-9
View details for Web of Science ID 000445852100020
-
The Role of Psychiatric Education in Pain Management
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2018; 42 (5): 587–91
View details for PubMedID 30171494
-
Views of the importance of psychiatric genetic research by potential volunteers from stakeholder groups.
Journal of psychiatric research
2018; 106: 69–73
Abstract
Few studies have explored potential volunteers' attitudes toward genetic research. To address this gap in the literature, we developed an empirical project to document views held by individuals who may wish to enroll in genetic studies involving mental disorders. People living with mental illness, family members of people with mental illness, and community comparison volunteers were queried regarding their views on the importance of genetic research generally, in comparison with medical research, and in relation to 12 health conditions categorized in four types. T-tests and univariate and multivariate analysis of variance were used as appropriate. Participants expressed support for the importance of genetic research (mean = 9.43, scale = 1-10) and endorsed genetic research more highly compared with non-genetic medical research (mean = 9.43 vs. 8.69, P value = <0.001). The most highly endorsed genetic research was for cognitive disorders, followed by mental illness disorders, physical illness disorders, and addiction disorders (means = 8.88, 8.26, 8.16 and 7.55, respectively, P value = <0.001). Overall, this study provides evidence of strong endorsement of genetic research over non-genetic research by potential volunteers.
View details for PubMedID 30292779
-
Perspectives of psychiatric investigators and IRB chairs regarding benefits of psychiatric genetics research.
Journal of psychiatric research
2018; 106: 54–60
Abstract
There is hope that psychiatric genetics inquiry will provide important insights into the origins and treatment of mental illness given the burden of these conditions. We sought to examine perspectives of psychiatric genetic investigators regarding the potential benefits of genetic research in general and the potential benefits of genetic research for the diagnosis and treatment of mental illnesses specifically. We compared investigator attitudes with those of chairs of Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) entrusted with evaluating the benefits and risks of human research studies. Two groups directly engaged with the conduct and oversight of psychiatric genetic research were examined (psychiatric investigators, n = 203; IRB Chairs, n = 183). Participants rated 15 survey items regarding current and future benefits of general genetic research, possible benefits of psychiatric genetic research, and the importance to society of genetic vs. non-genetic research examining causes and treatments of illnesses. Investigators and IRB Chairs strongly endorsed the future benefits of general genetic research for society and for the health of individuals; compared to IRB Chairs, investigators were more positive about these benefits. Even after adjusting for demographic variables, psychiatric genetic investigators were significantly more optimistic about genetic research compared with IRB Chairs. Both groups were moderately optimistic about the possible benefits of genetic research related to mental illness. Greater optimism was seen regarding new or personalized medications for mental illnesses, as well as genetic predictive testing of mental illnesses. Greater precision and circumspection about the potential benefits of psychiatric genetic research are needed.
View details for PubMedID 30273801
-
Ethical Use of Student Profiles to Predict and Prevent Development of Depression Symptoms During Medical School.
Academic medicine : journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges
2018
Abstract
Research investigations have repeatedly shown that medical school can be a period of high stress and deteriorating mental health for many students. There is a critical need for systematic guidance on how to personalize prevention and treatment programming to help those students at highest risk. The authors of this Invited Commentary respond to the report by Dyrbye and colleagues, published in this issue of Academic Medicine, that proposes a prognostic index to predict risk of developing depression symptoms in medical students. The commentary authors applaud Dyrbye and her co-authors for their innovative approach: their findings provide substantial insights relevant to the critical goal of enhancing medical student wellbeing. However, evidence indicates that students who identify as members of racial, ethnic, sexual and/or gender minority groups are at heightend risk of depression, so any program that profiles students in relation to their mental health symptoms must be proactive in ensuring that its efforts do not perpetuate stigma, marginalization, and discrimination for these underrepresented and potentially vulnerable groups. The commentary authors suggest practices for ethically implementing recommended wellnesss programs while maintaining an inclusive learning environment that respects personal privacy and incorporates transparent consent practices.
View details for PubMedID 30188366
-
Is It Ethical to Use Prognostic Estimates from Machine Learning to Treat Psychosis?
AMA journal of ethics
2018; 20 (9): E804–811
Abstract
Machine learning is a method for predicting clinically relevant variables, such as opportunities for early intervention, potential treatment response, prognosis, and health outcomes. This commentary examines the following ethical questions about machine learning in a case of a patient with new onset psychosis: (1) When is clinical innovation ethically acceptable? (2) How should clinicians communicate with patients about the ethical issues raised by a machine learning predictive model?
View details for PubMedID 30242810
-
The Psychiatrist Being Interviewed by the Media.
Academic psychiatry : the journal of the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training and the Association for Academic Psychiatry
2018
View details for PubMedID 30155604
-
What Is Different About Applying to Medical School? (Positive) Implications for Academic Psychiatry.
Academic psychiatry : the journal of the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training and the Association for Academic Psychiatry
2018
View details for PubMedID 30105574
-
The Transition to Precision Psychiatry and Pragmatic Inquiry Methods in Academic Psychiatry: The Example of Point-of-Care Clinical Trials
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2018; 42 (4): 529–33
View details for DOI 10.1007/s40596-017-0848-4
View details for Web of Science ID 000440456800017
-
Does informed consent given by healthy individuals when enrolling in clinical research feel less voluntary than for ill individuals?
JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRIC RESEARCH
2018; 103: 33–37
View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2018.04.018
View details for Web of Science ID 000438004900006
-
The Deborah Danner Story: Officer-Involved Deaths of People Living with Mental Illness
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2018; 42 (4): 443–50
View details for DOI 10.1007/s40596-018-0945-z
View details for Web of Science ID 000440456800001
-
The Deborah Danner Story: Officer-Involved Deaths of People Living with Mental Illness.
Academic psychiatry : the journal of the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training and the Association for Academic Psychiatry
2018
View details for PubMedID 29951949
-
Climate Change: A Call to Action for the Psychiatric Profession
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2018; 42 (3): 317–23
View details for PubMedID 29453644
-
Does informed consent given by healthy individuals when enrolling in clinical research feel less voluntary than for ill individuals?
Journal of psychiatric research
2018; 103: 33–37
Abstract
Clinical research is predicated ethically on the authentic voluntarism of individuals who choose to enroll in human studies. Existing literature has focused on aspects of informed consent for clinical research other than voluntarism. The objective of this study was to compare the perspectives of clinical research participants who are in good health and who are ill regarding voluntarism-related aspects of informed consent and to assess situational influences that enable voluntarism in the process of obtaining clinical research consent. A 23-item written survey, the Informed Consent Questionnaire (ICQ), was administered in a "piggyback" semi-structured interview study of ill and healthy volunteers enrolled in IRB-approved clinical research studies. A total of 150 (60 mentally ill, 43 physically ill, and 47 healthy) clinical research participants participated. Respondents expressed positive views of their experiences with the informed consent processes for their respective clinical research protocols and respondents strongly endorsed items related to voluntarism irrespective of their illness type (range of means = [3.9, 4.8]). Ill participants more highly endorsed items relating to informed consent conditions (mentally ill vs healthy: 0.54 on a 5-point scale, P value = 0.01) (physically ill vs. healthy: 0.47 on a 5-point scale, P value = 0.01). The favorable views of clinical research participants regarding their experience of giving informed consent to enroll in a study were not surprising. Contrary to our a priori hypothesis, healthy individuals did not feel as positively as their ill counterparts.
View details for PubMedID 29772484
-
Family Planning and the Scope of the "Reproductive Psychiatry" Curriculum
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2018; 42 (2): 183–88
View details for PubMedID 29368142
-
New tests, new tools: mobile and connected technologies in advancing psychiatric diagnosis.
NPJ digital medicine
2018; 1: 20176
Abstract
Mental health is an area of growing interest in the digital health space. Mobile and connected technologies offer new tools that can potentially aid in both the diagnostic and interventional aspects of psychiatric care. To understand the potential of these digital tools in psychiatry, this paper offers an overview of the development, current research, clinical use cases, and next steps necessary to realize the potential of digital health in mental health. Focusing on smartphones' and wearable sensors' ability to advance clinical data collection via multiple domains: self-report, behavioral, and physiological, we explore opportunities and challenges in translating these technologies into clinical care tools that can advance how we understand and approach mental illness.
View details for DOI 10.1038/s41746-017-0006-0
View details for PubMedID 31304350
View details for PubMedCentralID PMC6550288
-
Enhancing Wellness and Engagement Among Healthcare Professionals
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2018; 42 (1): 1–4
View details for PubMedID 29297148
-
Time to Teach: Addressing the Pressure on Faculty Time for Education
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2018; 42 (1): 5–10
View details for PubMedID 29134549
-
What Do We Mean by Physician Wellness? A Systematic Review of Its Definition and Measurement
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2018; 42 (1): 94–108
Abstract
Physician wellness (well-being) is recognized for its intrinsic importance and impact on patient care, but it is a construct that lacks conceptual clarity. The authors conducted a systematic review to characterize the conceptualization of physician wellness in the literature by synthesizing definitions and measures used to operationalize the construct.A total of 3057 references identified from PubMed, Web of Science, and a manual reference check were reviewed for studies that quantitatively assessed the "wellness" or "well-being" of physicians. Definitions of physician wellness were thematically synthesized. Measures of physician wellness were classified based on their dimensional, contextual, and valence attributes, and changes in the operationalization of physician wellness were assessed over time (1989-2015).Only 14% of included papers (11/78) explicitly defined physician wellness. At least one measure of mental, social, physical, and integrated well-being was present in 89, 50, 49, and 37% of papers, respectively. The number of papers operationalizing physician wellness using integrated, general-life well-being measures (e.g., meaning in life) increased [X 2 = 5.08, p = 0.02] over time. Changes in measurement across mental, physical, and social domains remained stable over time.Conceptualizations of physician wellness varied widely, with greatest emphasis on negative moods/emotions (e.g., burnout). Clarity and consensus regarding the conceptual definition of physician wellness is needed to advance the development of valid and reliable physician wellness measures, improve the consistency by which the construct is operationalized, and increase comparability of findings across studies. To guide future physician wellness assessments and interventions, the authors propose a holistic definition.
View details for PubMedID 28913621
-
Selection of Medication, Psychotherapy, and Clinicians in Split/Collaborative Treatment
COMPETENCY IN COMBINING PHARMACOTHERAPY AND PSYCHOTHERAPY: INTEGRATED AND SPLIT TREATMENT, 2ND EDITION
2018: 67–75
View details for Web of Science ID 000576961100006
-
Student Mental Health A Guide for Psychiatrists, Psychologists, and Leaders Serving in Higher Education Preface
STUDENT MENTAL HEALTH: A GUIDE FOR PSYCHIATRISTS, PSYCHOLOGISTS, AND LEADERS SERVING IN HIGHER EDUCATION
2018: XXV-XXVII
View details for Web of Science ID 000552225100002
-
Evaluation and Opening in Integrated Treatment
COMPETENCY IN COMBINING PHARMACOTHERAPY AND PSYCHOTHERAPY: INTEGRATED AND SPLIT TREATMENT, 2ND EDITION
2018: 33–51
View details for Web of Science ID 000576961100004
-
Evaluation, Monitoring, and Supervision of Integrated and Split/Collaborative Treatment
COMPETENCY IN COMBINING PHARMACOTHERAPY AND PSYCHOTHERAPY: INTEGRATED AND SPLIT TREATMENT, 2ND EDITION
2018: 113–25
View details for Web of Science ID 000576961100009
-
Introduction to Integrated and Split/Collaborative Treatment
COMPETENCY IN COMBINING PHARMACOTHERAPY AND PSYCHOTHERAPY: INTEGRATED AND SPLIT TREATMENT, 2ND EDITION
2018: 1–15
View details for Web of Science ID 000576961100002
-
Termination in Integrated and Split/Collaborative Treatment
COMPETENCY IN COMBINING PHARMACOTHERAPY AND PSYCHOTHERAPY: INTEGRATED AND SPLIT TREATMENT, 2ND EDITION
2018: 127–38
View details for Web of Science ID 000576961100010
-
Sequencing in Integrated Treatment
COMPETENCY IN COMBINING PHARMACOTHERAPY AND PSYCHOTHERAPY: INTEGRATED AND SPLIT TREATMENT, 2ND EDITION
2018: 53–66
View details for Web of Science ID 000576961100005
-
Competency in Combining Pharmacotherapy and Psychotherapy Integrated and Split Treatment Second Edition Preface
COMPETENCY IN COMBINING PHARMACOTHERAPY AND PSYCHOTHERAPY: INTEGRATED AND SPLIT TREATMENT, 2ND EDITION
2018: VII-+
View details for Web of Science ID 000576961100001
-
Sequencing and Maintenance in Split/Collaborative Treatment
COMPETENCY IN COMBINING PHARMACOTHERAPY AND PSYCHOTHERAPY: INTEGRATED AND SPLIT TREATMENT, 2ND EDITION
2018: 99–112
View details for Web of Science ID 000576961100008
-
Primary Care and Split/Collaborative Care Improving Access, Decreasing Costs, Improving Outcomes
COMPETENCY IN COMBINING PHARMACOTHERAPY AND PSYCHOTHERAPY: INTEGRATED AND SPLIT TREATMENT, 2ND EDITION
2018: 139–50
View details for Web of Science ID 000576961100011
-
Selection of Medication and Psychotherapy in Integrated Treatment
COMPETENCY IN COMBINING PHARMACOTHERAPY AND PSYCHOTHERAPY: INTEGRATED AND SPLIT TREATMENT, 2ND EDITION
2018: 17–32
View details for Web of Science ID 000576961100003
-
Evaluation and Opening in Split/Collaborative Treatment
COMPETENCY IN COMBINING PHARMACOTHERAPY AND PSYCHOTHERAPY: INTEGRATED AND SPLIT TREATMENT, 2ND EDITION
2018: 77–98
View details for Web of Science ID 000576961100007
-
Training as a Psychiatrist When Having a Psychiatric Illness.
Academic Psychiartry
2018: 592–97
View details for DOI 10.1007/s40596-018-0963-x
-
Student Mental Health
STUDENT MENTAL HEALTH: A GUIDE FOR PSYCHIATRISTS, PSYCHOLOGISTS, AND LEADERS SERVING IN HIGHER EDUCATION
2018: 3–15
View details for Web of Science ID 000552225100003
-
The Transition to Precision Psychiatry and Pragmatic Inquiry Methods in Academic Psychiatry: The Example of Point-of-Care Clinical Trials.
Academic psychiatry : the journal of the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training and the Association for Academic Psychiatry
2017
View details for PubMedID 29134550
-
Receptiveness to participation in genetic research: A pilot study comparing views of people with depression, diabetes, or no illness
JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRIC RESEARCH
2017; 94: 156–62
Abstract
Genetic research in human health relies on the participation of individuals with or at-risk for different types of diseases, including health conditions that may be stigmatized, such as mental illnesses. This preliminary study examines the differences in attitudes toward participation in genetic research among individuals with a psychiatric disorder, individuals with a physical disorder, and individuals with no known illness.Seventy-nine individuals with a history of diabetes or depression, or no known illness, underwent a simulated consent process for a hypothetical genetic research study. They were then surveyed about their willingness to participate in the hypothetical study and their attitudes about future and family participation in genetic research.Participants with and without a history of depression ranked participating in genetic and medical research as very important and indicated that they were likely to participate in the hypothetical genetics study. Expressed willingness to participate was generally stable and consistent with future willingness. Individuals less strongly endorsed willingness to ask family members to participate in genetic research.Individuals with and without a history of mental illness viewed genetic and medical research favorably and expressed willingness to participate in real-time and in the future. Informed consent processes ideally include an exploration of influences upon volunteers' enrollment decisions. Additional empirical study of influences upon genetic research participation is important to ensure that volunteers' rights are respected and that conditions that greatly affect the health of the public are not neglected scientifically.
View details for PubMedID 28719815
View details for PubMedCentralID PMC5621512
-
Sleep Deprived and Overwhelmed: Sleep Behaviors of Medical Students in the USA
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2017; 41 (5): 661–63
View details for PubMedID 28913770
-
Teaching to See Behaviors-Using Machine Learning?
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2017; 41 (5): 625–30
View details for PubMedID 28812294
-
Snapshots from the Cutting Edge: Innovations in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Training to Address Workforce Shortages
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2017; 41 (5): 571–73
View details for PubMedID 28733858
-
Evidence-Based Metrics and Other Multidimensional Considerations in Promotion or Tenure Evaluations in Academic Psychiatry
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2017; 41 (4): 467–70
View details for PubMedID 28643140
-
Premature Mortality Among People with Mental Illness: Advocacy in Academic Psychiatry
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2017; 41 (4): 441–46
View details for PubMedID 28585124
-
Psychoeducation as an Opportunity for Patients, Psychiatrists, and Psychiatric Educators: Why Do We Ignore It?
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2017; 41 (4): 447–51
View details for PubMedID 28536990
-
Is a Doctor Like a Toaster? Earning Trust in the Profession of Medicine
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2017; 41 (3): 305–8
View details for PubMedID 28470540
-
Impact of Educational Experience on Attitudes Toward Mental Illness and Career Choice
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2017; 41 (3): 309–11
View details for PubMedID 28247365
-
The Competency Movement in Psychiatric Education
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2017; 41 (3): 312–14
View details for PubMedID 28382588
-
Needed Innovation in Digital Health and Smartphone Applications for Mental Health Transparency and Trust
JAMA PSYCHIATRY
2017; 74 (5): 437–38
View details for PubMedID 28384700
-
"Physician Wellness" as Published in Academic Psychiatry
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2017; 41 (2): 155–58
View details for PubMedID 28213884
-
Psychiatry Workforce and Psychiatry Recruitment: Two Intertwined Challenges
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2017; 41 (2): 202–6
View details for PubMedID 28205068
-
Some Potential "Pitfalls" in the Construction of Educational Systematic Reviews
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2017; 41 (2): 246–50
View details for PubMedID 28188504
-
Preparing Residents and Fellows to Address Ethical Issues in the Use of Mobile Technologies in Clinical Psychiatry
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2017; 41 (1): 132-134
View details for DOI 10.1007/s40596-016-0594-z
View details for PubMedID 27472934
-
Providing Psychiatric Care for an Expanding Population of Cancer Survivors: Imperatives for Psychiatric Education and Leadership
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2017; 41 (1): 1–3
View details for PubMedID 27921265
-
In Reply to Myers et al.
Academic medicine
2017; 92 (2): 138-?
View details for DOI 10.1097/ACM.0000000000001529
View details for PubMedID 28118244
-
Addressing Authorship Issues Prospectively: A Heuristic Approach.
Academic medicine
2017; 92 (2): 143-146
Abstract
Collaborative writing in academic medicine gives rise to more richly informed scholarship, and yet challenging ethical issues surrounding authorship are commonly encountered. International guidelines on authorship help clarify whether individuals who have contributed to a completed scholarly work have been correctly included as authors, but these guidelines do not facilitate intentional and proactive authorship planning or decisions regarding authorship order.In this Commentary, the author presents a heuristic approach to help collaborators clarify, anticipate, and resolve practical and ethically important authorship issues as they engage in the process of developing manuscripts. As this approach illustrates, assignment of authorship should balance work effort and professional responsibility, reflecting the effort and intellectual contribution and the public accountability of the individuals who participate in the work. Using a heuristic approach for managing authorship issues prospectively can foster an ethical, collaborative writing process in which individuals are properly recognized for their contributions.
View details for DOI 10.1097/ACM.0000000000001285
View details for PubMedID 27355782
-
A Brief Instrument to Assess Both Burnout and Professional Fulfillment in Physicians: Reliability and Validity, Including Correlation with Self-Reported Medical Errors, in a Sample of Resident and Practicing Physicians.
Academic psychiatry : the journal of the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training and the Association for Academic Psychiatry
2017
Abstract
The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of the Professional Fulfillment Index (PFI), a 16-item instrument to assess physicians' professional fulfillment and burnout, designed for sensitivity to change attributable to interventions or other factors affecting physician well-being.A sample of 250 physicians completed the PFI, a measure of self-reported medical errors, and previously validated measures including the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), a one-item burnout measure, the World Health Organization's abbreviated quality of life assessment (WHOQOL-BREF), and PROMIS short-form depression, anxiety, and sleep-related impairment scales. Between 2 and 3 weeks later, 227 (91%) repeated the PFI and the sleep-related impairment scale.Principal components analysis justified PFI subscales for professional fulfillment, work exhaustion, and interpersonal disengagement. Test-retest reliability estimates were 0.82 for professional fulfillment (α = 0.91), 0.80 for work exhaustion (α = 0.86), 0.71 for interpersonal disengagement (α = 0.92), and 0.80 for overall burnout (α = 0.92). PFI burnout measures correlated highly (r ≥ 0.50) with their closest related MBI equivalents. Cohen's d effect size differences in self-reported medical errors for high versus low burnout classified using the PFI and the MBI were 0.55 and 0.44, respectively. PFI scales correlated in expected directions with sleep-related impairment, depression, anxiety, and WHOQOL-BREF scores. PFI scales demonstrated sufficient sensitivity to detect expected effects of a two-point (range 8-40) change in sleep-related impairment.PFI scales have good performance characteristics including sensitivity to change and offer a novel contribution by assessing professional fulfillment in addition to burnout.
View details for PubMedID 29196982
-
Healthy individuals' perspectives on clinical research protocols and influences on enrollment decisions
AJOB Empirical Bioethics
2017; 8 (2): 89-98
View details for DOI 10.1080/23294515.2016.1271062
-
The Ethical Use of Mobile Health Technology in Clinical Psychiatry
JOURNAL OF NERVOUS AND MENTAL DISEASE
2017; 205 (1): 4-8
Abstract
The rapid rise of mobile health technologies, such as smartphone apps and wearable sensors, presents psychiatry with new tools of potential value in caring for patients. Novel diagnostic and therapeutic applications of these technologies have been developed in private industry and utilized in mental health, although these methods do not yet constitute standard of care. In this article, we provide an ethical perspective on the practical use of this novel modality by psychiatrists. We propose that in the present context of limited scientific research and regulatory oversight, mobile technologies should serve to enhance the psychiatrist-patient relationship, rather than replace it, to minimize potential clinical and ethical harm to vulnerable patients. We analyze areas of possible ethical tension between clinical practice and the consumer-driven mobile industry, and develop a decision-tree model for implementing ethical safeguards in practice, focused on managing risk to the therapeutic relationship, informed consent, confidentiality, and mutual alignment of treatment goals and expectations.
View details for DOI 10.1097/NMD.0000000000000596
View details for Web of Science ID 000391860900001
View details for PubMedID 28005647
-
Healthy individuals' perspectives on clinical research protocols and influences on enrollment decisions.
AJOB empirical bioethics
2016; 8 (2): 89-98
Abstract
Understanding the perspectives of healthy individuals is important ethically and for the advancement of science. We assessed perceptions of risk associated with research procedures, comparing views of healthy individuals with and without experience in clinical research, and the respondents' reported willingness to volunteer.Semistructured interviews and written surveys were conducted. Study participants were healthy individuals, half of whom were currently enrolled in clinical research and half of whom had no prior experience in clinical research. Participants were queried regarding seven "minimal risk" or "greater than minimal risk" protocol vignettes with procedures of three types: routine diagnostic tests, more burdensome (i.e., more effort or potential harm) diagnostic tests, and pharmacologic interventions. Views of influences on enrollment decisions were also assessed.Most healthy individuals indicated that protocols with more burdensome or pharmacologic interventions were very risky (59%, 58%), as opposed to routine diagnostic test procedures (32%). Respondents' willingness to enroll in protocols varied by type of protocol (p value < .001) and was inversely correlated with risk assessments (regression coefficients from GEE = -0.4; -0.5; -0.7). The odds of healthy individuals with research experience expressing strong willingness to enroll in the depicted protocols were twice the odds of healthy individuals without research experience expressing the same level of willingness (OR = 2.0 95% CI: [1.1, 3.9]). Respondents did not assign risk categories as institutional review boards (IRBs) would, as indicated by low agreement (26%) between respondent and expert opinion on minimal risk protocols.Perceptions of procedure risk appear to influence healthy individuals' willingness to enroll in protocols. Participants with experience in clinical research were far more likely to express willingness to enroll, a finding with important scientific and ethical implications. The lack of alignment between healthy individuals' views of protocol risk and IRB categorization warrants further study.
View details for DOI 10.1080/23294515.2016.1271062
View details for PubMedID 28949845
-
Refining duration and frequency thresholds of restless legs syndrome diagnosis criteria.
Neurology
2016
Abstract
This study assesses the prevalence of restless legs syndrome (RLS) using DSM-5 criteria and determines what is the most appropriate threshold for the frequency and duration of RLS symptoms.The Sleep-EVAL knowledge base system queried the interviewed subjects on life, sleeping habits, and health. Questions on sleep and mental and organic disorders (DSM-5, ICD-10) were also asked. A representative sample of 19,136 noninstitutionalized individuals older than 18 years living in the United States was interviewed through a cross-sectional telephone survey. The participation rate was 83.2%.The prevalence of the 4 leg symptoms describing RLS occurring at least 1 d/wk varied between 5.7% and 12.3%. When the frequency was set to at least 3 d/wk, the prevalence dropped and varied between 1.8% and 4.5% for the 4 leg symptoms. Higher frequency of leg symptoms was associated with greater distress and impairment with a marked increase at 3 d/wk. Symptoms were mostly chronic, lasting for more than 3 months in about 97% of the cases. The prevalence of RLS according to DSM-5 was 1.6% (95% confidence interval 1.4%-1.8%) when frequency was set at 3 d/wk. Stricter criteria for frequency of restless legs symptoms resulted in a reduction of prevalence of the disorder. The prevalence was further reduced when clinical impact was taken into consideration.In order to avoid inflation of case rates and to identify patients in whom treatment is truly warranted, using a more conservative threshold of 3 times or greater per week appears the most appropriate.
View details for PubMedID 27770066
-
Perceptions of the Professional Development Value of Honorary Fellowship Award Experiences.
Academic psychiatry
2016; 40 (5): 761-767
Abstract
Professional societies engage in activities with the aim of nurturing highly talented early career members of their field. Little is known about the value of honorary fellowship awards given annually by professional societies. Following up on the only known prior study of this topic, authors queried fellowship awardees in one psychiatric society to better understand the perceived value of honorary fellowships and other outcomes, such as subsequent involvement in professional societies.The authors queried former participants in the Laughlin and Psychiatry Resident-In-Training Examination® (PRITE®) Programs regarding their fellowship experiences and their subsequent involvement in The American College of Psychiatrists and other psychiatry membership organizations. The authors obtained frequency data and analyzed responses using t-tests and chi-squared tests. Associations between the outcomes and demographic characteristics such as age, gender, and fellowship type was tested.Responses were gathered from 143 individuals who had participated in the Laughlin Fellowship and 22 in the PRITE Fellowship. Respondents felt that that the fellowship experience had been helpful professionally. Laughlin fellows were older and more likely to have assumed a leadership role in professional organizations (60 % vs 36 %, p = 0.04). Laughlin fellows also more strongly endorsed professional recognition as a benefit at the time of receiving their award. Survey respondents reported increased participation in professional organizations and assumed leadership roles in The College and other professional organizations subsequent to the fellowship experience.On the whole, fellows were generally positive about their experiences. Many respondents became involved with The College subsequent to their fellowship, but a larger proportion became involved with other organizations, including in leadership roles. Professional societies with early career programs such as the Laughlin Fellowship and the PRITE Fellowship appear to identify and support future leaders as intended, but these leaders may engage more with other professional societies.
View details for DOI 10.1007/s40596-015-0482-y
View details for PubMedID 26911491
-
Stigma and Mental Health: A Proposal for Next Steps.
Academic psychiatry
2016; 40 (5): 735-739
View details for DOI 10.1007/s40596-016-0601-4
View details for PubMedID 27502201
-
What Is the Role of Academic Departments of Psychiatry in Advancing Global Mental Health?
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2016; 40 (4): 672-678
View details for DOI 10.1007/s40596-016-0497-z
View details for Web of Science ID 000379709200022
View details for PubMedID 26976404
-
Academic Psychiatry's Role in Addressing Campus Sexual Assault
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2016; 40 (4): 567-571
View details for DOI 10.1007/s40596-016-0543-x
View details for Web of Science ID 000379709200001
View details for PubMedID 27052505
-
Teaching Medical Students and Residents about Homelessness: Complex, Evidence-Based, and Imperative
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2016; 40 (4): 572-575
View details for DOI 10.1007/s40596-016-0571-6
View details for Web of Science ID 000379709200002
View details for PubMedID 27220731
-
Opportunities and Challenges of Global Mental Health
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2016; 40 (4): 643-646
View details for DOI 10.1007/s40596-016-0574-3
View details for Web of Science ID 000379709200017
View details for PubMedID 27270737
-
What Is the Role of Academic Departments of Psychiatry in Advancing Global Mental Health?
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2016; 40 (4): 672-678
View details for DOI 10.1007/s40596-016-0497-z
View details for Web of Science ID 000379709200022
View details for PubMedID 26976404
-
Are individuals living with mental illness and their preferred alternative decision-makers attuned and aligned in-their attitudes regarding treatment decisions?
JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRIC RESEARCH
2016; 78: 42-47
Abstract
Mental disorders account for considerable suffering and societal burden. Prospective alternative decision-makers may be engaged in helping make treatment decisions for those who live with serious mental disorders. Little is known about the ways in which alternative decision makers arrive at treatment recommendations and whether the perspectives of alternative decision makers and ill individuals are aligned.The authors queried community-dwelling individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia, anxiety, or mood disorders and their preferred alternative decision-makers on issues regarding treatment decisions and underlying ethically-salient perspectives using a written survey instrument. Complete data were obtained on 26 pairs (n = 52, total). Outcomes included perspectives on clinical decision-making and underlying values that may shape their life choices. Two-sided paired t-tests and graphical representations were used.We found that preferred alternative decision-makers overall accurately predicted the views of ill individuals with respect to the role of the individual and of family in treatment decision making. Preferred alternative decision-makers slightly overestimated autonomy-related perspectives. The personal views of ill individuals and preferred alternative decision-makers were aligned with respect to different physical and mental disorders, except in relation to alcohol and substance use where alternative decision-makers placed greater emphasis on autonomy. Alignment was also discovered on underlying life values, except the role of spirituality which was greater among alternative decision-makers.Preferred alternative decision-makers are an ethical safeguard to ensure the wellbeing and rights of seriously ill individuals. In this pilot study, preferred alternative decision makers were aligned with their ill family members concerning treatment-related decisions and underlying life values. Future research should continue to explore and clarify the views of ill individuals and alternative decision makers to determine the quality of this safeguard used in clinical settings.
View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2016.03.004
View details for PubMedID 27058644
-
Professional Integrity and the Role of Medical Students in Professional Self-Regulation
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2016; 40 (3): 525-529
View details for DOI 10.1007/s40596-016-0534-y
View details for Web of Science ID 000376248800029
View details for PubMedID 27020936
-
Leadership and Gender Inclusiveness in Academic Psychiatry
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2016; 40 (3): 399–401
View details for PubMedID 26715109
-
A Case for Increased Medical Student and Psychiatric Resident Education in Palliative Care.
Academic psychiatry
2016; 40 (2): 203-206
View details for DOI 10.1007/s40596-015-0479-6
View details for PubMedID 26715110
-
Machine Learning and the Profession of Medicine
JAMA-JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION
2016; 315 (6): 551-552
View details for DOI 10.1001/jama.2015.18421
View details for Web of Science ID 000369635200009
View details for PubMedID 26864406
-
An Adjuvant Role for Mobile Health in Psychiatry
JAMA PSYCHIATRY
2016; 73 (2): 103-104
View details for DOI 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2015.2839
View details for Web of Science ID 000371612500003
View details for PubMedID 26747695
-
Recommended Readings
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2016; 40 (1): 184–85
View details for PubMedID 26691140
-
Human Trafficking and Psychiatric Education: A Call to Action.
Academic psychiatry
2016; 40 (1): 119-123
View details for DOI 10.1007/s40596-015-0462-2
View details for PubMedID 26670788
-
Physician Wellbeing: A Critical Deficiency in Resilience Education and Training.
Academic psychiatry
2016; 40 (1): 9-12
View details for DOI 10.1007/s40596-015-0475-x
View details for PubMedID 26691141
-
Clinical Training
CLINICAL GUIDE TO PSYCHIATRIC ETHICS
2016: 283–95
View details for Web of Science ID 000473652900021
-
Innovation in Psychiatry
CLINICAL GUIDE TO PSYCHIATRIC ETHICS
2016: 267–81
View details for Web of Science ID 000473652900020
-
Clinician Well-Being and Impairment
CLINICAL GUIDE TO PSYCHIATRIC ETHICS
2016: 223–36
View details for Web of Science ID 000473652900018
-
Psychiatric Research
CLINICAL GUIDE TO PSYCHIATRIC ETHICS
2016: 237–66
View details for Web of Science ID 000473652900019
-
Ethics Principles and Professionalism
CLINICAL GUIDE TO PSYCHIATRIC ETHICS
2016: 3–13
View details for Web of Science ID 000473652900002
-
Ethical Use of Influence and the Role of Physician in High-Risk Situations
CLINICAL GUIDE TO PSYCHIATRIC ETHICS
2016: 57–72
View details for Web of Science ID 000473652900006
-
People at the End of Life
CLINICAL GUIDE TO PSYCHIATRIC ETHICS
2016: 157–65
View details for Web of Science ID 000473652900013
-
People Living With Addictions
CLINICAL GUIDE TO PSYCHIATRIC ETHICS
2016: 179–91
View details for Web of Science ID 000473652900015
-
The Tradition of the Psychotherapeutic Relationship
CLINICAL GUIDE TO PSYCHIATRIC ETHICS
2016: 25–36
View details for Web of Science ID 000473652900004
-
People From Culturally Distinct Populations
CLINICAL GUIDE TO PSYCHIATRIC ETHICS
2016: 133–45
View details for Web of Science ID 000473652900011
-
Confidentiality and Truth Telling
CLINICAL GUIDE TO PSYCHIATRIC ETHICS
2016: 73–90
View details for Web of Science ID 000473652900007
-
Children and Transitional Age Youth
CLINICAL GUIDE TO PSYCHIATRIC ETHICS
2016: 93–104
View details for Web of Science ID 000473652900008
-
Clinical Decision-Making and Ethics Skills
CLINICAL GUIDE TO PSYCHIATRIC ETHICS
2016: 15–24
View details for Web of Science ID 000473652900003
-
Veterans
CLINICAL GUIDE TO PSYCHIATRIC ETHICS
2016: 119–31
View details for Web of Science ID 000473652900010
-
Integrity and the Professional Roles of Psychiatrists
CLINICAL GUIDE TO PSYCHIATRIC ETHICS
2016: 195–208
View details for Web of Science ID 000473652900016
-
Informed Consent and Decisional Capacity
CLINICAL GUIDE TO PSYCHIATRIC ETHICS
2016: 37–56
View details for Web of Science ID 000473652900005
-
Patient Care Ethics Committees and Consultation Services
CLINICAL GUIDE TO PSYCHIATRIC ETHICS
2016: 209–22
View details for Web of Science ID 000473652900017
-
People in Small Communities
CLINICAL GUIDE TO PSYCHIATRIC ETHICS
2016: 105–18
View details for Web of Science ID 000473652900009
-
Ethical Issues in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
Focus (American Psychiatric Publishing)
2016; 14 (1): 64–67
View details for DOI 10.1176/appi.focus.20150032
View details for PubMedID 31975797
View details for PubMedCentralID PMC6524442
-
Addiction Training: Striving to Fill an Unmet Need.
Academic psychiatry : the journal of the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training and the Association for Academic Psychiatry
2016
View details for PubMedID 27020933
-
People Living With HIV/AIDS
CLINICAL GUIDE TO PSYCHIATRIC ETHICS
2016: 147–56
View details for Web of Science ID 000473652900012
-
Difficult Patients
CLINICAL GUIDE TO PSYCHIATRIC ETHICS
2016: 167–77
View details for Web of Science ID 000473652900014
-
Population Health and Evolving Systems of Care
CLINICAL GUIDE TO PSYCHIATRIC ETHICS
2016: 297–308
View details for Web of Science ID 000473652900022
-
Attunement and alignment of people with schizophrenia and their preferred alternative decision-makers: An exploratory pilot study comparing treatment and research decisions
JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRIC RESEARCH
2015; 71: 70-77
Abstract
Schizophrenia is a serious mental disorder that may affect the decisional capacity, and as a consequence, preferred alternative decision-makers may be engaged to help with clinical care and research-related choices. Ideally, alternative decision-makers will seek to make decisions that fit with the views and preferences of the ill individual. Few data exist, however, comparing the views of alternative decision-makers to those of individuals with schizophrenia.We conducted a written survey with individuals with schizophrenia living in a community setting, and a parallel survey with the person whom the ill individual identified as being a preferred alternative decision-maker. Complete data were obtained on 20 pairs (n = 40, total). Domains queried included (a) burden, happiness, and safety of the ill individual and of his or her family in treatment and research decisions and (b) importance of ethical principles in every day life. Two-sided paired t-tests and graphical summaries were used to compare responses.Individuals with schizophrenia and their linked preferred alternative decision-makers were attuned on four of six aspects of treatment decision-making and on all six aspects of research decision-making that we queried.The preferred alternative decision-makers overall demonstrated attunement to the views of the ill individuals in this small study. Ill individuals and their preferred alternative decision-makers were aligned in their views of ethically-salient aspects of every day life. These novel findings suggest that alternative decision-makers identified by ill individuals may be able to guide choices based on an accurate understanding of the ill individuals' views and values.
View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2015.09.014
View details for Web of Science ID 000365053900009
View details for PubMedID 26453915
-
Behavioral and Social Sciences for Personalized Medicine: Teaching with Novel Methods.
Academic psychiatry
2015; 39 (6): 609-612
View details for DOI 10.1007/s40596-015-0435-5
View details for PubMedID 26423677
-
The exclusion of people with psychiatric disorders from medical research
JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRIC RESEARCH
2015; 70: 28-32
Abstract
People with psychiatric disorders are excluded from medical research to an unknown degree with unknown effects. We examined the prevalence of reported psychiatric exclusion criteria using a sample of 400 highly-cited randomized trials (2002-2010) across 20 common chronic disorders (6 psychiatric and 14 other medical disorders). Two coders rated the presence of psychiatric exclusion criteria for each trial. Half of all trials (and 84% of psychiatric disorder treatment trials) reported possible or definite psychiatric exclusion criteria, with significant variation across disorders (p < .001). Non-psychiatric conditions with high rates of reported psychiatric exclusion criteria included low back pain (75%), osteoarthritis (57%), COPD (55%), and diabetes (55%). The most commonly reported type of psychiatric exclusion criteria were those related to substance use disorders (reported in 48% of trials reporting at least one psychiatric exclusion criteria). General psychiatric exclusions (e.g., "any serious psychiatric disorder") were also prevalent (38% of trials). Psychiatric disorder trials were more likely than other medical disorder trials to report each specific type of psychiatric exclusion (p's < .001). Because published clinical trial reports do not always fully describe exclusion criteria, this study's estimates of the prevalence of psychiatric exclusion criteria are conservative. Clinical trials greatly influence state-of-the-art medical care, yet individuals with psychiatric disorders are often actively excluded from these trials. This pattern of exclusion represents an under-recognized and worrisome cause of health inequity. Further attention should be paid to how individuals with psychiatric disorders can be safely included in medical research to address this important clinical and social justice issue.
View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2015.08.005
View details for Web of Science ID 000363826800004
View details for PubMedID 26424420
-
College Mental Health: A Vulnerable Population in an Environment with Systemic Deficiencies.
Academic psychiatry
2015; 39 (5): 495-497
View details for DOI 10.1007/s40596-015-0390-1
View details for PubMedID 26327172
-
Advancing Science in the Service of Humanity Professionalism and Ethical Safeguards
JAMA INTERNAL MEDICINE
2015; 175 (9): 1506–8
View details for PubMedID 26167792
-
Pedagogical Implications of Partnerships Between Psychiatry and Obstetrics-Gynecology in Caring for Patients with Major Mental Disorders.
Academic psychiatry
2015; 39 (4): 430-436
Abstract
Because there are no formal reviews, the authors set out to identify and describe programs that serve female patients with major mental disorders by integrating mental health care with services in obstetrics and gynecology and to describe the pedagogical implications of those programs.The authors searched PubMed for all articles describing a program in which psychiatry was formally integrated with obstetric or gynecological services, other than standard consultation-liaison programs, in the care of patients with major mental disorders. The search terms used included interdisciplinary, interprofessional, integrated, collaborative care, psychiatry, and obstetrics-gynecology or psychosomatic obstetrics-gynecology.The authors found six distinct integrated programs. These included family planning clinics that were integrated into inpatient psychiatry services; inpatient and outpatient psychiatry services for pregnant mentally ill women in close collaboration with obstetric services; a day hospital for pregnant women with psychiatric disorders in an obstetric setting; an interdisciplinary training site providing care for predominantly depressed, low-income, and minority women; a primary care HIV service for women integrated with departments of obstetrics-gynecology and psychiatry; and an obstetrics-gynecology clinic-based collaborative depression care intervention for socially disadvantaged women. Residents' involvement was described in four of the programs.These innovative and integrated programs potentially enhance the care of vulnerable and culturally diverse women with major mental disorders. The authors discuss how these programs may contribute to the education of residents in psychiatry and obstetrics-gynecology.
View details for DOI 10.1007/s40596-015-0364-3
View details for PubMedID 26059737
-
Water Pie: Creativity and Leadership in Academic Psychiatry
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2015; 39 (4): 470–71
View details for PubMedID 25977099
-
Sacrifice and Service, Protectors and Teachers: The Role of Military and Veteran Patients in Training Early-Career Psychiatrists
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2015; 39 (4): 349–50
View details for PubMedID 26077009
-
Integrated Care in Community Settings and Psychiatric Training.
Academic psychiatry
2015; 39 (4): 419-421
View details for DOI 10.1007/s40596-015-0363-4
View details for PubMedID 26036348
-
Stigma and empathy: sex workers as educators of medical students.
Academic psychiatry
2015; 39 (3): 239-241
View details for DOI 10.1007/s40596-015-0338-5
View details for PubMedID 25854454
-
Stigma and Empathy: Sex Workers as Educators of Medical Students
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2015; 39 (3): 239-241
View details for DOI 10.1007/s40596-015-0338-5
View details for Web of Science ID 000354084100001
View details for PubMedID 25854454
-
Attitudes Toward Neuroscience Education in Psychiatry: a National Multi-stakeholder Survey
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2015; 39 (2): 139-146
Abstract
The objective of this study is to assess the attitudes of chairs of psychiatry departments, psychiatrists, and psychiatry trainees toward neuroscience education in residency programs and beyond in order to inform future neuroscience education approaches.This multi-stakeholder survey captured data on demographics, self-assessments of neuroscience knowledge, attitudes toward neuroscience education, preferences in learning modalities, and interests in specific neuroscience topics. In 2012, the authors distributed the surveys: by paper to 133 US psychiatry department chairs and electronically through the American Psychiatric Association to 3,563 of its members (1,000 psychiatrists and 2,563 trainees).The response rates for the chair, psychiatrist, and trainee surveys were 53, 9, and 18 %, respectively. A large majority of respondents agreed with the need for more neuroscience education in general and with respect to their own training. Most respondents believed that neuroscience will help destigmatize mental illness and begin producing new treatments or personalized medicines in 5-10 years. Only a small proportion of trainees and psychiatrists, however, reported a strong knowledge base in neuroscience. Respondents also reported broad enthusiasm for transdiagnostic topics in neuroscience (such as emotion regulation and attention/cognition) and description at the level of neural circuits.This study demonstrates the opportunity and enthusiasm for teaching more neuroscience in psychiatry among a broad range of stakeholder groups. A high level of interest was also found for transdiagnostic topics and approaches. We suggest that a transdiagnostic framework may be an effective way to deliver neuroscience education to the psychiatric community and illustrate this through a case example, drawing the similarity between this neuroscience approach and problem-based formulations familiar to clinicians.
View details for DOI 10.1007/s40596-014-0183-y
View details for Web of Science ID 000351433800003
View details for PubMedID 25001432
-
Elevating the Behavioral and Social Sciences in Premedical Training: MCAT2015
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2015; 39 (2): 127-131
View details for DOI 10.1007/s40596-015-0289-x
View details for PubMedID 25700671
-
Strengthening Telepsychiatry's Role in Clinical Care and Education.
Academic psychiatry
2015; 39 (1): 6-9
View details for DOI 10.1007/s40596-014-0265-x
View details for PubMedID 25476229
-
Informal Health Care Practices of Residents: "Curbside" Consultation and Self-Diagnosis and Treatment
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2015; 39 (1): 22-30
Abstract
The authors explore the experiences of residents with respect to informal care related to personal health, including "curbside consultation," self-diagnosis, and self-prescription-self-care practices that run counter to ethical guidelines in medicine.Residents at one medical school completed a written survey regarding their personal health care practices, including their experiences in seeking or providing informal consultation, self-diagnosis, and self-prescribing. The authors obtained frequency data and analyzed responses via cross-tabulation. They used logistic regression models to assess the association of reported informal care practices and potential confounders, such as age, gender, and training program.One hundred and fifty-five residents volunteered (71 % response rate). Most respondents had sought health care formally (70 %), and more had sought informal care in the previous 12 months (80 %). Of those who had pursued informal care, 90 % endorsed having requested a physical exam, a laboratory test, or a medication prescription from an attending, resident, or medical student. Respondents (28 %) commonly endorsed prescribing medication for themselves. Most respondents (90 %) reported being approached for informal care at least once in the previous year, including 84 % who were approached for prescriptions and 22 % who were approached by attending physicians. Main reasons endorsed for informal care seeking related to busy schedules and to cost and confidentiality advantages. Psychiatry residents reported using both formal and informal channels for personal health care, and 31 % acknowledged prescribing medications for themselves.Informal care was a common practice among the residents in this study. Residents reported time constraints as the greatest influence on informal care seeking, rather than reasons found in previous studies related to cost and quality of care, protection of confidentiality, or prevention of embarrassment. The effects of informal care practices involving resident physicians warrant additional study.
View details for DOI 10.1007/s40596-014-0170-3
View details for Web of Science ID 000349304800005
View details for PubMedID 24923781
-
Caring for patients takes time: dr. Peabody says so!
Academic psychiatry
2015; 39 (1): 1-5
View details for DOI 10.1007/s40596-014-0250-4
View details for PubMedID 25416611
-
Challenging the validity of the association between oversleeping and overeating in atypical depression.
Journal of psychosomatic research
2015; 78 (1): 52-57
Abstract
In this study, we used a strict definition of hypersomnia and tested if the association between overeating-hypersomnia remained positive and significant. Hypersomnia was present if the total sleep time was close to 10h per day or was at least 2h longer than in normothymic periods.Cross-sectional study using the adult general population of California and New York. The sample was composed of 6694 individuals aged between 18 and 96years. Participants were interviewed by telephone using the Sleep-EVAL system. The interviews included various sleep and health topics and the assessment of DSM-IV sleep and psychiatric disorders.The one-month prevalence of major depressive episode was 6.1%, including a one-month prevalence of atypical depression of 1.6%, in this sample. Atypical depression subjects had a greater number of depressive symptoms and a longer duration of the current depressive episode than the other depressive subjects. Depressive subjects with hypersomnia slept longer (8h, 29min) than the other depressive subjects (6h, 36min) and longer than the subjects "getting too much sleep" (6h, 48min). Furthermore, hypersomnia was not associated with overeating while "getting too much sleep" showed a positive association with overeating.Hypersomnia needs to be evaluated using a strict definition. Otherwise, it leads to an overestimation of this symptom in major depressive episode subjects and to a false association with overeating.
View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jpsychores.2014.09.018
View details for PubMedID 25450239
-
Moving Beyond Community Mental Health: Public Mental Health as an Emerging Focus for Psychiatry Residency Training
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2014; 38 (6): 655-660
View details for DOI 10.1007/s40596-014-0230-8
View details for Web of Science ID 000346794100001
View details for PubMedID 25339288
-
Moving Beyond Community Mental Health: Public Mental Health as an Emerging Focus for Psychiatry Residency Training.
Academic psychiatry : the journal of the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training and the Association for Academic Psychiatry
2014
View details for DOI 10.1007/s40596-014-0230-8
View details for PubMedID 25339288
-
Pain and Sleep Disturbances in the United Kingdom
43rd Annual Meeting of the Child-Neurology-Society
WILEY-BLACKWELL. 2014: S132–S132
View details for Web of Science ID 000343766400386
-
A Rwandan Woman
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2014; 38 (5): 638
View details for DOI 10.1007/s40596-014-0181-0
View details for Web of Science ID 000342172000022
-
Improving Psychiatric Education Related to Suicide
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2014; 38 (5): 521-524
View details for DOI 10.1007/s40596-014-0209-5
View details for Web of Science ID 000342172000001
View details for PubMedID 25080224
-
Special Collection: Suicide Awareness and Prevention in Psychiatric Education: Introduction and Dedication
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2014; 38 (5): 525
View details for DOI 10.1007/s40596-014-0203-y
View details for Web of Science ID 000342172000002
View details for PubMedID 25082722
-
A review of multidisciplinary clinical practice guidelines in suicide prevention: toward an emerging standard in suicide risk assessment and management, training and practice.
Academic psychiatry
2014; 38 (5): 585-592
Abstract
The current paper aims to: (1) examine clinical practice guidelines in suicide prevention across fields, organizations, and clinical specialties and (2) inform emerging standards in clinical practice, research, and training.The authors conducted a systematic literature review to identify clinical practice guidelines and resource documents in suicide prevention and risk management. The authors used PubMed, Google Scholar, and Google Search, and keywords included: clinical practice guideline, practice guideline, practice parameters, suicide, suicidality, suicidal behaviors, assessment, and management. To assess for commonalities, the authors reviewed guidelines and resource documents across 13 key content categories and assessed whether each document suggested validated assessment measures.The search generated 101 source documents, which included N = 10 clinical practice guidelines and N = 12 additional resource documents (e.g., non-formalized guidelines, tool-kits). All guidelines (100 %) provided detailed recommendations for the use of evidence-based risk factors and protective factors, 80 % provided brief (but not detailed) recommendations for the assessment of suicidal intent, and 70 % recommended risk management strategies. By comparison, only 30 % discussed standardization of risk-level categorizations and other content areas considered central to best practices in suicide prevention (e.g., restricting access to means, ethical considerations, confidentiality/legal issues, training, and postvention practices). Resource documents were largely consistent with these findings.Current guidelines address similar aspects of suicide risk assessment and management, but significant discrepancies exist. A lack of consensus was evident in recommendations across core competencies, which may be improved by increased standardization in practice and training. Additional resources appear useful for supplemental use.
View details for DOI 10.1007/s40596-014-0180-1
View details for PubMedID 25142247
-
A Review of Multidisciplinary Clinical Practice Guidelines in Suicide Prevention: Toward an Emerging Standard in Suicide Risk Assessment and Management, Training and Practice
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2014; 38 (5): 585-592
Abstract
The current paper aims to: (1) examine clinical practice guidelines in suicide prevention across fields, organizations, and clinical specialties and (2) inform emerging standards in clinical practice, research, and training.The authors conducted a systematic literature review to identify clinical practice guidelines and resource documents in suicide prevention and risk management. The authors used PubMed, Google Scholar, and Google Search, and keywords included: clinical practice guideline, practice guideline, practice parameters, suicide, suicidality, suicidal behaviors, assessment, and management. To assess for commonalities, the authors reviewed guidelines and resource documents across 13 key content categories and assessed whether each document suggested validated assessment measures.The search generated 101 source documents, which included N = 10 clinical practice guidelines and N = 12 additional resource documents (e.g., non-formalized guidelines, tool-kits). All guidelines (100 %) provided detailed recommendations for the use of evidence-based risk factors and protective factors, 80 % provided brief (but not detailed) recommendations for the assessment of suicidal intent, and 70 % recommended risk management strategies. By comparison, only 30 % discussed standardization of risk-level categorizations and other content areas considered central to best practices in suicide prevention (e.g., restricting access to means, ethical considerations, confidentiality/legal issues, training, and postvention practices). Resource documents were largely consistent with these findings.Current guidelines address similar aspects of suicide risk assessment and management, but significant discrepancies exist. A lack of consensus was evident in recommendations across core competencies, which may be improved by increased standardization in practice and training. Additional resources appear useful for supplemental use.
View details for DOI 10.1007/s40596-014-0180-1
View details for Web of Science ID 000342172000011
View details for PubMedCentralID PMC4283785
-
Giving voice to study volunteers: Comparing views of mentally ill, physically ill, and healthy protocol participants on ethical aspects of clinical research
JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRIC RESEARCH
2014; 56: 90-97
Abstract
Ethical controversy surrounds clinical research involving seriously ill participants. While many stakeholders have opinions, the extent to which protocol volunteers themselves see human research as ethically acceptable has not been documented. To address this gap of knowledge, authors sought to assess views of healthy and ill clinical research volunteers regarding the ethical acceptability of human studies involving individuals who are ill or are potentially vulnerable.Surveys and semi-structured interviews were used to query clinical research protocol participants and a comparison group of healthy individuals. A total of 179 respondents participated in this study: 150 in protocols (60 mentally ill, 43 physically ill, and 47 healthy clinical research protocol participants) and 29 healthy individuals not enrolled in protocols. Main outcome measures included responses regarding ethical acceptability of clinical research when it presents significant burdens and risks, involves people with serious mental and physical illness, or enrolls people with other potential vulnerabilities in the research situation.Respondents expressed decreasing levels of acceptance of participation in research that posed burdens of increasing severity. Participation in protocols with possibly life-threatening consequences was perceived as least acceptable (mean = 1.82, sd = 1.29). Research on serious illnesses, including HIV, cancer, schizophrenia, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder, was seen as ethically acceptable across respondent groups (range of means = [4.0, 4.7]). Mentally ill volunteers expressed levels of ethical acceptability for physical illness research and mental illness research as acceptable and similar, while physically ill volunteers expressed greater ethical acceptability for physical illness research than for mental illness research. Mentally ill, physically ill, and healthy participants expressed neutral to favorable perspectives regarding the ethical acceptability of clinical research participation by potentially vulnerable subpopulations (difference in acceptability perceived by mentally ill - healthy = -0.04, CI [-0.46, 0.39]; physically ill - healthy = -0.13, CI [-0.62, -.36]).Clinical research volunteers and healthy clinical research-"naïve" individuals view studies involving ill people as ethically acceptable, and their responses reflect concern regarding research that poses considerable burdens and risks and research involving vulnerable subpopulations. Physically ill research volunteers may be more willing to see burdensome and risky research as acceptable. Mentally ill research volunteers and healthy individuals expressed similar perspectives in this study, helping to dispel a misconception that those with mental illness should be presumed to hold disparate views.
View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2014.05.007
View details for Web of Science ID 000340318600012
View details for PubMedID 24931849
View details for PubMedCentralID PMC4109648
-
The critical need to diversify the clinical and academic workforce.
Academic psychiatry
2014; 38 (4): 394-397
View details for DOI 10.1007/s40596-014-0175-y
View details for PubMedID 24989990
-
Where Are the Women Editors?
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2014; 38 (4): 391–93
View details for PubMedID 25001430
-
My Email-48 Hours
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2014; 38 (3): 373-375
View details for DOI 10.1007/s40596-014-0117-8
View details for Web of Science ID 000337143800025
View details for PubMedID 24696131
-
The Rising Cost of Medical Education and Its Significance for (Not Only) Psychiatry
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2014; 38 (3): 305–8
View details for DOI 10.1007/s40596-014-0118-7
View details for Web of Science ID 000337143800011
View details for PubMedID 24752697
-
Do investigators understand ethically-important perspectives of clinical research participants?: A 'piggy-back' study of attunement and alignment in serious illness research.
Journal of psychiatric research
2014; 52: 36-43
Abstract
The authors sought to compare investigators' predictions of clinical research participants' attitudes regarding ethically-important considerations in serious illness research with attitudes expressed by participants ("attunement"), to compare the personal attitudes of investigators and clinical research participants ("alignment"), and to explore the association between views expressed and covariates.The authors queried clinical research participants with either physical or mental illness (n=100) and faculty investigators conducting the clinical research protocols in which these participants were enrolled (n=77). Outcomes included attitudes regarding importance of medical research, attributes of seriously ill people in the research situation, and influences on enrollment decisions by seriously ill people. Generalized estimating equations and linear regression models were used.Investigators underestimated the importance of research about physical illness, mental illness, and healthy people to participants (βPI=0.59, 95% CI [0.36, 0.83]; βMI=0.60, 95% CI [0.27, 0.92]; βH=0.93, 95% CI [0.57, 1.29]). Investigators incorrectly predicted that participants would assess seriously ill people as more vulnerable in the research situation than participants did (β=-0.68, 95% CI [-1.11, -0.25]). Investigators and participants were aligned on the importance of illness research. Participants expressed greater agreement than investigators regarding the influences of ill individuals indicative of will and cognition in their enrollment decisions (β=0.69, 95% CI [0.25, 1.13]).Investigators are attuned to and aligned with research participants in many, but not all, respects. Investigators may bring a protective bias in their predictions of the vulnerabilities of ill volunteers.
View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2014.01.012
View details for PubMedID 24507883
-
Attitudes toward neuroscience education among psychiatry residents and fellows.
Academic psychiatry
2014; 38 (2): 127-134
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to assess the attitudes of psychiatry trainees toward neuroscience education in psychiatry residency and subsequent training in order to inform neuroscience education approaches in the future.This online survey was designed to capture demographic information, self-assessed neuroscience knowledge, attitudes toward neuroscience education, preferences in learning modalities, and interest in specific neuroscience topics. Volunteers were identified through the American Psychiatric Association, which invited 2,563 psychiatry trainees among their members.Four hundred thirty-six trainees completed the survey. Nearly all agreed that there is a need for more neuroscience education in psychiatry residency training (94 %) and that neuroscience education could help destigmatize mental illness (91 %). Nearly all (94 %) expressed interest in attending a 3-day course on neuroscience. Many neuroscience topics and modes of learning were viewed favorably by participants. Residents in their first 2 years of training expressed attitudes similar to those of more advanced residents and fellows. Some differences were found based on the level of interest in a future academic role.This web-based study demonstrates that psychiatry residents see neuroscience education as important in their training and worthy of greater attention. Our results suggest potential opportunities for advancing neuroscience education.
View details for DOI 10.1007/s40596-014-0034-x
View details for PubMedID 24493359
-
Teaching Clinical Neuroscience to Psychiatry Residents: Model Curricula
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2014; 38 (2): 111-115
View details for DOI 10.1007/s40596-014-0045-7
View details for Web of Science ID 000334414300001
View details for PubMedID 24493360
-
Clinical Neurosciences Training for Psychiatrists: One Proposed Model
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2014; 38 (2): 151–53
View details for DOI 10.1007/s40596-014-0053-7
View details for Web of Science ID 000334414300009
View details for PubMedID 24497182
-
Links between occupational activities and depressive mood in young adult populations
JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRIC RESEARCH
2014; 49: 10-17
Abstract
To examine how occupational activities (work, school), separation from parents, environmental conditions, stressors ad social insertion affect on the prevalence of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and mental health care-seeking among young adults.Cross-sectional study conducted in two samples: 1) 19,136 subjective representative of the US non-institutionalized general population including 2082 18-26 y.o. subjects. 2) 2196 subjects representative of the students' population living on an university campus. Telephone interviews were realized using the Sleep-EVAL system to assess sleeping habits, general health, organic, sleep and mental disorders.One-month prevalence of depressed mood was similar between community and campus student groups (21.7% and 23.4%), and less common than for working (23.6%) and non-working (28.2%) young adults in the community. One-month MDD was found in 12.0% of non-working young people, compared with 6.6% of young workers, 3.2% of on-campus students and 4.1% of students in the general population (p < 0.01). Correlates for depressive mood and MDD such as female gender, dissatisfaction with social life, obesity, living with pain and other factors were identified across groups. A minority of on-campus (10.8%) and general population students (10.3%) had sought mental health services in the prior year. Individuals with MDD had higher rates of care-seeking than other young people (p < 0.001), high rates of psychotropic medication use (p < 0.001).Being a student appears to have a protective effect with respect to having depressive symptoms or MDD and seeking needed mental health care. Stress and social isolation were important determinants for depression among young adults.
View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jpschires.2013.10.002
View details for Web of Science ID 000329772800002
View details for PubMedID 24290488
-
A New Day for Academic Psychiatry
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2014; 38 (1): 1-4
View details for DOI 10.1007/s40596-013-0024-4
View details for Web of Science ID 000331983600001
View details for PubMedID 24430589
-
DSM-5 and the Five Missions Shouldered by Chairs of Psychiatry
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2014; 38 (1): 61-63
Abstract
The author provides a department chairman's perspective on the opportunities and challenges inherent in the DSM-5 transition. The author discusses these topics in relation to the missions of science, clinical innovation and service, education, community engagement, and leadership. To provide accurate information for their faculty, learners, and staff, chairs will need to provide venues for dialogue, minimize divisiveness, support departmental leaders to help with transition issues, and speak up for patients and the profession in the process.
View details for DOI 10.1007/s40596-013-0010-x
View details for PubMedID 24419814
-
Perceptions of African-American Health Professionals and Community Members in the Participation of Children and Pregnant Women in Genetic Research
PUBLIC HEALTH GENOMICS
2014; 17 (1): 23-32
Abstract
As genetic research gains more prominence in society, ethical concerns and the need for safeguards in the participation of children and pregnant women have increased. This study examined the perspectives of African-American health professional and community members on genetic research involving children and pregnant women.We used a mixed-methods approach to collect and analyze survey data and qualitative data from focus groups of community members and structured interviews of health professionals.We found that community members had significantly more favorable attitudes toward participation of children and pregnant women in genetic research than health professionals. Health professionals did not differ significantly from community members in their perceived understanding of genetic research. Emergent themes included limited knowledge of genetic research and distinction of biomedical research and clinical care, ethical concerns about confidentiality and potential harm, and the need to protect children and pregnant women. Participants expressed high interest and favorable attitude towards genetic research, despite limited genetic knowledge and concerns of potential harm to children and pregnant women. Some participants felt that genetic research findings could help dispel stigma and reduce discrimination, especially in mental illness.Findings suggest that the recruitment of participants into genetic research should directly address privacy and benefit concerns, and limited knowledge of physical and mental illness genetic research. There is a critical need to invest and engage racial/ethnic communities early, provide education on genetics, mental illness, and translate and share research findings with these communities.
View details for DOI 10.1159/000355359
View details for Web of Science ID 000331026700004
View details for PubMedID 24216722
View details for PubMedCentralID PMC4014201
-
Assessing Professionalism and Ethics Knowledge and Skills: Preferences of Psychiatry Residents
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2013; 37 (6): 392-397
Abstract
Professionalism is one of the fundamental expectations and a core competency in residency education. Although programs use a variety of evaluative methods, little is known about residents' views of and preferences regarding various methods of assessment.The authors surveyed residents at seven psychiatry residency programs in the United States regarding their attitudes on professionalism, ethics preparation, and evaluation in psychiatry residency training. This report describes their views on methods of assessing professionalism.Residents strongly agreed that clinical supervision is an appropriate assessment method. Moreover, they rated clinical supervision more highly than oral examinations, short-answer questions, essays, and standardized patient interactions. Residents also strongly favored direct faculty observation of residents' interactions with actual patients and clinical team members.This study suggests that both direct faculty supervision and other clinically-based assessments are methods accepted by psychiatry residents. Future research on the validity and effectiveness of these modes of assessment is needed.
View details for Web of Science ID 000326561500006
View details for PubMedID 23771251
-
Strengthening Psychiatry's Numbers
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2013; 37 (5): 293-296
View details for Web of Science ID 000323916200001
View details for PubMedID 24026364
-
Leadership Considerations for Executive Vice Chairs, New Chairs, and Chairs in the 21st Century
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2013; 37 (4): 254-260
View details for Web of Science ID 000321484000008
View details for PubMedID 23820911
-
An argument for conducting methodologically strong, randomized, controlled trials in educational research.
Academic psychiatry
2013; 37 (3): 145-149
View details for DOI 10.1176/appi.ap.13030029
View details for PubMedID 23632922
-
Investigating the Attitudes Toward Neuroscience Education in Psychiatry -- The Stanford Education in Neuroscience Study (SENS)
ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC. 2013: 219S
View details for Web of Science ID 000318671800676
-
Alternative Decision-Makers' Perspectives on Assent and Dissent for Dementia Research
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF GERIATRIC PSYCHIATRY
2013; 21 (4): 346-354
Abstract
Investigators generally address the ethical dilemma of patients' decisional impairment in Alzheimer disease (AD) research by obtaining consent from alternative or surrogate decision makers ("proxies") as well as assent from patients. How these proxies conceptualize patient assent, or lack of objection, to participate may influence decisions made of the patients' behalf, but has been little studied. This report examines statements of proxies relevant to how they conceptualized assent and dissent to research.Surveys and in-depth interviews of proxies presented with hypothetical scenario related to enrolling relatives with AD in a clinical trial of an investigational drug for AD.Proxies (n = 25) for people with AD.Open-ended and rating-scaled items assessing perspectives on enrollment in research, influences on decision-making, and willingness to override a relative's preferences regarding research participation. Statements with relevance to assent or dissent were coded.Proxies described looking for consistent behavioral or verbal indications of assent versus objection when trying to determine patients' preferences. However, proxies sometimes expressed willingness to override patients' desires in favor of patients' presumed best interests. The amnestic nature of the disorder led some proxies to justify overriding temporary dissent or discomfort in the interest of promoting patients' values. Patients' dependence on their caregivers for decision-making, and caregivers' awareness of their ability to persuade their relatives, also emerged in descriptions of the decision-making process.Proxies' statements regarding a hypothetical research enrollment decision revealed several themes with implications for the concepts of assent and dissent. Proxies may persuade or influence patients to promote the patient's best interests or values. Further work, particularly examining actual decision-making, is warranted to determine how best to operationalize the concepts of assent and dissent in the context of research involving decisionally impaired adults.
View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jagp.2013.01.027
View details for Web of Science ID 000330355800005
View details for PubMedID 23498381
-
"Thinking About It for Somebody Else": Alzheimer's Disease Research and Proxy Decision Makers' Translation of Ethical Principles Into Practice
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF GERIATRIC PSYCHIATRY
2013; 21 (4): 337-345
Abstract
Ethical guidelines suggest that, when enrolling patients with dementia in research, alterative decision makers (proxies) should base their decision on a "substituted judgment" of how the patient would have decided. If unable to make a substituted judgment, proxies are asked to decide on the basis of the patient's best interests. This mixed-methods study is the first to examine explicitly whether and to what degree proxies differentiate between these two approaches and what considerations influence their mode of decision making.Interview study regarding enrollment of relative in hypothetical clinical trial of an investigational drug for Alzheimer disease. Participants were randomized to respond to questions about one of four hypothetical clinical trials that differed by levels of described risk and potential benefit.Proxy decision makers (N = 40).Open-ended and rating-scaled items.Half of the proxies agreed with both of two rating-scaled items asking about different approaches to decision making-that is, agreeing that they would decide on the basis of how their relative would have decided and agreeing that they would decide on the basis of what they believed was in their relative's best interests. Narrative responses elaborated on themes within the following three major domains: Substituted judgment, best interests, and weighing substituted judgment and best interests. Substituted judgment was framed as honoring the patient's wishes and values. Best interests was described as a perceived duty to maintain quality of life and avoid burdens or risks. Weighing the two standards emerged as a challenging yet important, way of honoring wishes while maintaining quality of life. An unexpected theme was the attempt by alternative decision makers to discern their loved one's current versus premorbid research preferences.Tensions exist between abstract ethical principles regarding decision-making "standards" and their translation into research decisions.
View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jagp.2012.11.014
View details for Web of Science ID 000330355800004
View details for PubMedID 23498380
View details for PubMedCentralID PMC3381872
-
Academic Mission Revisited: Emerging Priority of Faculty Development
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2013; 37 (2): 69–71
View details for DOI 10.1176/appi.ap.13010003
View details for Web of Science ID 000316155900001
View details for PubMedID 23475229
-
Assessing Whether Consent for a Clinical Trial Is Voluntary
ANNALS OF INTERNAL MEDICINE
2013; 158 (3): 222-224
View details for Web of Science ID 000314757900018
View details for PubMedID 23381054
View details for PubMedCentralID PMC3747561
-
Residents as teachers.
Academic psychiatry
2013; 37 (1): 1-5
View details for DOI 10.1176/appi.ap.12110192
View details for PubMedID 23338863
-
(Honest) Letters of Recommendation
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2013; 37 (1): 55–59
View details for PubMedID 23338877
-
Ethical Considerations in Caring for People Living with Addictions
APPLIED ETHICS IN MENTAL HEALTH CARE: AN INTERDISCIPLINARY READER
2013: 223–28
View details for Web of Science ID 000327644300020
-
Writing for academia: Getting your research into print: AMEE Guide No. 74
MEDICAL TEACHER
2013; 35 (2): E926-E934
Abstract
The authors identify and describe strategies for success in writing for publication, including how to choose an educational research topic, define the question and choose the correct design, know the anatomy of a research paper, write each of the sections, optimize the writing before publication, choose a journal, and respond to editors and reviewers. The research question should be focused, modest, and achievable given the constraints of the setting, significant, and appropriately imbedded in the available literature. The choice of methods is determined by the nature of the educational research question and should conform to ethical standards. Specific strategies for writing include starting where it is easiest to do so, spontaneously and uncritically writing the first paragraphs through, minimizing external impediments to the work, and knowing how each section of a manuscript is routinely structured. All papers require a number of revisions with careful attention to accuracy and detail as well as to specific requirements of the target journal before submission. Authors should respond positively, not defensively, and in detail to all of the editor's and reviewers' suggestions for revision. Writing for success is therefore a disciplined and systematic process following prescribed steps, which, although hard work, is rewarding.
View details for DOI 10.3109/0142159X.2012.742494
View details for Web of Science ID 000316560800001
View details for PubMedID 23228107
-
Appreciation.
Academic psychiatry
2012; 36 (6): 503-505
View details for DOI 10.1176/appi.ap.366503
View details for PubMedID 27517704
-
Challenges in Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Education
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2012; 36 (6): 429–32
View details for DOI 10.1176/appi.ap.12090164
View details for Web of Science ID 000311244600001
View details for PubMedID 23154685
-
Alternative Decision-Makers' Perspectives on Assent and Dissent for Dementia Research.
The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry
2012
Abstract
OBJECTIVES:: Investigators generally address the ethical dilemma of patients' decisional impairment in Alzheimer disease (AD) research by obtaining consent from alternative or surrogate decision makers ("proxies") as well as assent from patients. How these proxies conceptualize patient assent, or lack of objection, to participate may influence decisions made of the patients' behalf, but has been little studied. This report examines statements of proxies relevant to how they conceptualized assent and dissent to research. DESIGN:: Surveys and in-depth interviews of proxies presented with hypothetical scenario related to enrolling relatives with AD in a clinical trial of an investigational drug for AD. PARTICIPANTS:: Proxies (n = 25) for people with AD. MEASUREMENTS:: Open-ended and rating-scaled items assessing perspectives on enrollment in research, influences on decision-making, and willingness to override a relative's preferences regarding research participation. Statements with relevance to assent or dissent were coded. RESULTS:: Proxies described looking for consistent behavioral or verbal indications of assent versus objection when trying to determine patients' preferences. However, proxies sometimes expressed willingness to override patients' desires in favor of patients' presumed best interests. The amnestic nature of the disorder led some proxies to justify overriding temporary dissent or discomfort in the interest of promoting patients' values. Patients' dependence on their caregivers for decision-making, and caregivers' awareness of their ability to persuade their relatives, also emerged in descriptions of the decision-making process. CONCLUSIONS:: Proxies' statements regarding a hypothetical research enrollment decision revealed several themes with implications for the concepts of assent and dissent. Proxies may persuade or influence patients to promote the patient's best interests or values. Further work, particularly examining actual decision-making, is warranted to determine how best to operationalize the concepts of assent and dissent in the context of research involving decisionally impaired adults.
View details for DOI 10.1097/JGP.0b013e318265767e
View details for PubMedID 23032477
-
Which Educational Programs Promote the Success of International Medical Graduates in Psychiatry Training?
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2012; 36 (4): 263–67
View details for DOI 10.1176/appi.ap.12050098
View details for Web of Science ID 000306889600001
View details for PubMedID 22851020
-
Richness and Creativity in Medical Student Education in Psychiatry
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2012; 36 (3): 159-162
View details for Web of Science ID 000305673600001
View details for PubMedID 22751812
-
"Thinking About It for Somebody Else": Alzheimer's Disease Research and Proxy Decision Makers' Translation of Ethical Principles Into Practice.
The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry
2012
Abstract
OBJECTIVES:: Ethical guidelines suggest that, when enrolling patients with dementia in research, alterative decision makers (proxies) should base their decision on a "substituted judgment" of how the patient would have decided. If unable to make a substituted judgment, proxies are asked to decide on the basis of the patient's best interests. This mixed-methods study is the first to examine explicitly whether and to what degree proxies differentiate between these two approaches and what considerations influence their mode of decision making. DESIGN:: Interview study regarding enrollment of relative in hypothetical clinical trial of an investigational drug for Alzheimer disease. Participants were randomized to respond to questions about one of four hypothetical clinical trials that differed by levels of described risk and potential benefit. PARTICIPANTS:: Proxy decision makers (N = 40). MEASUREMENTS:: Open-ended and rating-scaled items. RESULTS:: Half of the proxies agreed with both of two rating-scaled items asking about different approaches to decision making-that is, agreeing that they would decide on the basis of how their relative would have decided and agreeing that they would decide on the basis of what they believed was in their relative's best interests. Narrative responses elaborated on themes within the following three major domains: Substituted judgment, best interests, and weighing substituted judgment and best interests. Substituted judgment was framed as honoring the patient's wishes and values. Best interests was described as a perceived duty to maintain quality of life and avoid burdens or risks. Weighing the two standards emerged as a challenging yet important, way of honoring wishes while maintaining quality of life. An unexpected theme was the attempt by alternative decision makers to discern their loved one's current versus premorbid research preferences. CONCLUSIONS:: Tensions exist between abstract ethical principles regarding decision-making "standards" and their translation into research decisions.
View details for DOI 10.1097/JGP.0b013e31824362ca
View details for PubMedID 22426522
View details for PubMedCentralID PMC3381872
-
Teaching Sexual History-Taking: A Systematic Review of Educational Programs
ACADEMIC MEDICINE
2011; 86 (12): 1590-1595
Abstract
Because of the importance of sexual history-taking, the authors attempted to identify all randomized controlled trials on teaching this topic and reviewed the methods used for teaching and the efficacy of the educational interventions.From June to November 2010, the authors searched the published English-language literature indexed in PubMed, PsycINFO, and SCOPUS, using the key terms sexual history-taking, teaching, medical students, residents, sexual health, sexually transmitted infections, HIV, and AIDS. The authors selected and critically appraised randomized controlled trials and controlled nonrandomized trials of educational programs designed to enhance sexual history-taking skills.Of 11 trials identified, 7 included medical students, 2 included residents, 1 involved community-based physicians, and 1 involved attendings, fellows, and residents. The educational interventions and outcome measures were heterogeneous, and the quality of study methodologies varied widely. The authors judged only 1 study to be of very high quality, although 8 studies explicitly mentioned at least one of the following: group differences at baseline, blinding, follow-up, and validated measurement tools. In the highest-quality study, primary care physicians who were mailed educational materials and received an unannounced instructor visit performed better in risk assessment and counseling than two comparison groups. Evidence also supported interactive workshops over didactic presentations.The dearth of high-quality controlled studies hampers the development of sexual history-taking curricula for medical students and residents. The available literature supports formal opportunities to directly practice and receive feedback on interviewing skills. More rigorous research on sexual history-taking education is needed.
View details for DOI 10.1097/ACM.0b013e318234ea41
View details for Web of Science ID 000298137900026
View details for PubMedID 22030763
-
"A feeling that you're helping": proxy decision making for Alzheimer's research.
Narrative inquiry in bioethics
2011; 1 (2): 107-122
Abstract
Surrogate (proxy) decision makers must make research decisions for people with dementia who lack decision-making capacity. Proxies' decision-making processes are minimally understood. We randomly assigned 82 proxies of AD patients to informed consent for one of three hypothetical protocols with differing levels of risk and benefit. Proxies answered questions about potential benefits of the described research to the patient and society, as well as about whether they would enroll their relative and why or why not. Proxies interested in enrolling their relative cited the potential for direct benefit to their relative, altruism, and trust in researchers. Those declining cited risks, inconvenience, and stage of illness. Proxies weighed numerous factors, incorporating both substituted judgment and best interests standards in their decision-making processes. Although further empirical work is needed to understand the influences on and adequacy of proxies' decision making regarding research, these findings can help inform policy regarding surrogate consent.
View details for DOI 10.1353/nib.2011.0034
View details for PubMedID 24406656
-
Medical students as patients: implications of their dual role as explored in a vignette-based survey study of 1027 medical students at nine medical schools
COMPREHENSIVE PSYCHIATRY
2011; 52 (4): 405-412
Abstract
Medical students experience a range of mental and physical illnesses during training and may encounter significant barriers in seeking health care. Little is known about the issues surrounding the dual role as both learner and patient when a medical student seeks care at his or her training institution.A confidential survey examining medical students' health care needs, practices, and concerns was administered at 9 US medical schools. One part of the survey focused on responses to 4 medical student-patient vignettes. The vignettes systematically varied preexisting student vs preexisting patient status before assuming a medical student-patient role, and the vignettes also varied illness situations that were more vs less stigmatizing. Responses were analyzed using χ(2) and multivariate analysis of variance tests.A total of 1027 students participated. We found that students were more likely to accept the dual role as medical student-patient in vignettes depicting a preexisting patient role than a preexisting student role. Students sought to avoid the dual role as student-patient in the context of stigmatizing health concerns. Women students were more likely than men to reject the dual role in all cases.Medical students appear to be sensitive to the conflicts that may be associated with the dual role as both medical student and patient when seeking care at their training institution. Our data suggest the importance of substantive efforts to promote the health, interests, and well-being of medical student-patients.
View details for DOI 10.1016/j.comppsych.2010.09.004
View details for Web of Science ID 000292220600008
View details for PubMedID 21683176
-
Are Doctors Who Have Been Ill More Compassionate? Attitudes of Resident Physicians Regarding Personal Health Issues and the Expression of Compassion in Clinical Care
PSYCHOSOMATICS
2011; 52 (4): 367-374
Abstract
Compassion is an attribute central to professionalism and modern clinical care, yet little is known about how compassion is acquired and preserved in medical training. We sought to understand whether personal illness experiences are thought by residents to foster compassion.The authors surveyed 155 (71% response rate) second- and third-year residents at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine regarding their views of the relationship of personal life experience with illness to compassion and empathy for patients.Residents believe that experience with personal health issues enhances physician compassion for patients. Residents who report more personal health concerns, such as physical or mental health problems and family health problems, endorse the connection between direct experience with illness and empathy.Health care trainees' own illness experiences may increase compassionate patient care practices and foster empathy.
View details for Web of Science ID 000293546400009
View details for PubMedID 21777720
-
Results of a Multisite Survey of US Psychiatry Residents on Education in Professionalism and Ethics
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2011; 35 (3): 175-183
Abstract
The authors assess the perspectives of psychiatry residents about the goals of receiving education in professionalism and ethics, how topics should be taught, and on what ethical principles the curriculum should be based.A written survey was sent to psychiatry residents (N=249) at seven U.S. residency programs in Spring 2005. The survey was based on an instrument originally developed at the University of New Mexico, consisting of 149 questions in 10 content domains, with 6 questions regarding ethics experiences during training and 5 demographic questions.A total of 151 psychiatry residents (61%) returned usable responses to our survey. Residents reported receiving a moderate amount of ethics training during medical school (mean: 5.20; scale: 1: None to 9: Very Much) and some ethics training during residency (mean: 4.60). Residents endorsed moderate to moderately-strong agreement with all 11 goals of medical education in professionalism and ethics (means: 5.29 to 7.49; scale: 1: Strongly Disagree to 9: Strongly Agree). Respondents were more likely to endorse the value of clinically- and expert-oriented learning methods over web-based educational approaches.U.S. psychiatry residents endorse a range of goals for education in professionalism and ethics. At the same time, they prefer that these topics be taught in clinically relevant ways and through expert instruction. The value of web-based approaches warrants further investigation.
View details for Web of Science ID 000290787500005
View details for PubMedID 21602439
-
Ethical issues in mental health research: the case for community engagement
CURRENT OPINION IN PSYCHIATRY
2011; 24 (3): 208-214
Abstract
To describe community-engaged research (CEnR) and how it may improve the quality of a research study while addressing ethical concerns that communities may have with mental health and substance abuse research. This article includes a review of the literature as well as recommendations from an expert panel convened with funding from the US National Institute of Mental Health.CEnR represents a broad spectrum of practices, including representation on institutional ethics committees, attitude research with individuals from the study population, engaging community advisory boards, forming research partnerships with community organizations, and including community members as co-investigators.CEnR poses some challenges; for example, it requires funding and training for researchers and community members. However, it offers many benefits to researchers and communities, and some form of CEnR is appropriate and feasible in nearly every study involving human participants.
View details for DOI 10.1097/YCO.0b013e3283459422
View details for Web of Science ID 000289069500006
View details for PubMedID 21460643
View details for PubMedCentralID PMC3528105
-
Cultivating the Professional Virtues in Medical Training and Practice
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2011; 35 (3): 155-159
View details for Web of Science ID 000290787500001
View details for PubMedID 21602435
-
Psychiatric Residents' Needs for Education About Informed Consent, Principles of Ethics and Professionalism, and Caring for Vulnerable Populations: Results of a Multisite Survey
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2011; 35 (3): 184-190
Abstract
The authors examined psychiatric residents' perceived needs for education in informed consent, principles of ethics and professionalism, and treating vulnerable populations.A written survey was distributed to psychiatric residents (N=249) at seven U.S. residency programs in 2005. The survey contained 149 questions in 10 content domains, 6 questions regarding personal ethics experiences during training, and 5 demographic questions. Here, the authors report responses to items regarding informed consent, professional principles, and care of vulnerable populations.A total of 151 psychiatric residents responded to the survey (61% overall response rate). On a scale of 1: Much Less, to 5: Same, to 9: Much More Education Desired, psychiatric residents indicated that 9 topics relating to informed consent, 10 issues surrounding professional principles, and 25 topics relating to care of vulnerable populations should receive more educational attention than currently provided. No topics were rated as needing less education. Higher ratings of the need for additional educational attention were associated with more reported ethical conflicts encountered during training.Psychiatric residents at seven diverse U.S. training programs expressed the need for greater educational attention to issues around informed consent, ethical and professional principles, and treating vulnerable populations. These findings reflect the ongoing need for educators to devote curricular attention to these areas so that trainees can incorporate such knowledge effectively into their daily clinical practice in an always-complex, highly fragmented medical care environment.
View details for Web of Science ID 000290787500006
View details for PubMedID 21602440
-
Are We Heading Into a Workforce Crisis?
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2011; 35 (1): 1-3
View details for Web of Science ID 000285918600001
View details for PubMedID 21209398
-
"If Only Someone Had Told Me ...": Lessons From Rural Providers
JOURNAL OF RURAL HEALTH
2011; 27 (1): 122-130
Abstract
Health care providers face challenges in rural service delivery due to the unique circumstances of rural living. The intersection of rural living and health care challenges can create barriers to care that providers may not be trained to navigate, resulting in burnout and high turnover. Through the exploration of experienced rural providers' knowledge and lessons learned, this study sought to inform future practitioners, educators, and policy makers in avenues through which to enhance training, recruiting, and maintaining a rural workforce across multiple health care domains.Using a qualitative study design, 18 focus groups were conducted, with a total of 127 health care providers from Alaska and New Mexico. Transcribed responses from the question, "What are the 3 things you wish someone would have told you about delivering health care in rural areas?" were thematically coded.Emergent themes coalesced into 3 overarching themes addressing practice-related factors surrounding the challenges, adaptations, and rewards of being a rural practitioner.Based on the themes, a series of recommendations are offered to future rural practitioners related to community engagement, service delivery, and burnout prevention. The recommendations offered may help practitioners enter communities more respectfully and competently. They can also be used by training programs and communities to develop supportive programs for new practitioners, enabling them to retain their services, and help practitioners integrate into the community. Moving toward an integrative paradigm of health care delivery wherein practitioners and communities collaborate in service delivery will be the key to enhancing rural health care and reducing disparities.
View details for DOI 10.1111/j.1748-0361.2010.00314.x
View details for Web of Science ID 000285891700014
View details for PubMedID 21204979
View details for PubMedCentralID PMC3057882
-
The Public Health Priority to Address the Accessibility and Safety of Firearms: Recommendations for Training
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2010; 34 (6): 405-408
View details for Web of Science ID 000283647900001
View details for PubMedID 21041461
-
Considering the Effect of Sexual Trauma When Teaching Physicians About Human Sexuality
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2010; 34 (6): 409-413
View details for Web of Science ID 000283647900002
View details for PubMedID 21041462
-
Understanding Depression and Distress Among Medical Students
JAMA-JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION
2010; 304 (11): 1231-1233
View details for Web of Science ID 000281770600018
View details for PubMedID 20841539
-
Psychiatry's Role in Teaching Medical Students, Psychiatric Residents, and Colleague Physicians About Human Sexuality
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2010; 34 (5): 321-324
View details for Web of Science ID 000281675700001
View details for PubMedID 20833897
-
Clinical and Ethical Considerations in Pharmacogenetic Testing: Views of Physicians in 3 "Early Adopting" Departments of Psychiatry
JOURNAL OF CLINICAL PSYCHIATRY
2010; 71 (6): 745-753
Abstract
Pharmacogenetic testing for polymorphisms affecting drug response and metabolism is now clinically available, and its use in psychiatry is expected to become more widespread. Currently, few clinical and ethical standards exist for the use of these new tests. As a step toward building consensus about testing, we assessed the attitudes and practices of psychiatrists at 3 academic departments of psychiatry where pharmacogenetic testing is clinically available. We hypothesized that testing would be used primarily in treatment-resistant illness and that clinicians would believe such tests carried little risk.Residents and faculty at 3 departments of psychiatry considered to be "early adopters" of pharmacogenetic testing were invited during the academic year 2006-2007 to complete an Internet-based survey, including questions regarding clinical practices and opinions about testing utility, risks, and necessary safeguards.The 75 respondents had ordered pharmacogenetic testing a mean of 20.86 times in the previous 12 months. Testing was judged most useful in cases of treatment-resistant depression and medication intolerance. There was a lack of consensus about the risks of testing, particularly the risk of secondary information about disease susceptibility. Respondents endorsed the use of several safeguards, including confidentiality, pretest and posttest counseling, and informed consent, but consensus about other safeguards was lacking. Women and those who had not ordered testing in the prior year were more concerned about risks and need for safeguards than were men and those who had recently ordered testing.Physicians at early adopting departments of psychiatry endorsed the clinical utility of pharmacogenetic testing and the use of some patient safeguards, but showed a lack of consensus about other safeguards and risks.
View details for DOI 10.4088/JCP.08m04695whi
View details for Web of Science ID 000278877100010
View details for PubMedID 20361898
-
Academician: What's in a Name?
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2010; 34 (3): 169-171
View details for Web of Science ID 000277180000001
View details for PubMedID 20431090
-
Education on Genetics for Psychiatric Residents
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2010; 34 (2): 85-86
View details for Web of Science ID 000275434500001
View details for PubMedID 20224009
-
The Current State of Genetics Training in Psychiatric Residency: Views of 235 US Educators and Trainees
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2010; 34 (2): 109-114
Abstract
As researchers make progress in understanding genetic aspects of mental illness and its treatment, psychiatrists will increasingly need to understand and interpret genetic information specific to psychiatric disorders. Little is known about the extent to which residency programs are preparing psychiatrists for this new role. This study was designed to explore the current state of genetics education in psychiatric residency.U.S. psychiatric residency educators and residents were invited to participate in an Internet-based survey.Out of 509 educators and at least 207 residents contacted, 100 educators and 135 residents from 55 geographically dispersed U.S. psychiatry training programs in diverse settings responded to the survey. Participants rated genetics as somewhat important as a curricular topic but less important than other subjects. Nearly half of the educators reported that their program had few or no faculty with adequate expertise in teaching this subject. Most residents routinely obtained family psychiatric histories when evaluating patients, but most did not feel competent to order and interpret genetic tests or to interpret papers on psychiatric genetics.This study presents a sobering picture of the state of genetics education in psychiatric residency training. Potential obstacles to improving genetics education include perceptions of the relative importance of genetics in comparison with other topics and a lack of faculty with appropriate expertise.
View details for Web of Science ID 000275434500007
View details for PubMedID 20224019
-
Global challenges and ethics in protecting and promoting the interests of psychiatrically ill patients
INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF PSYCHIATRY
2010; 22 (3): 229-234
View details for DOI 10.3109/09540261.2010.486828
View details for Web of Science ID 000278755600001
View details for PubMedID 20528651
-
Psychiatry Residents' Attitudes on Ethics and Professionalism: Multisite Survey Results
ETHICS & BEHAVIOR
2010; 20 (1): 10-20
View details for DOI 10.1080/10508420903482442
View details for Web of Science ID 000273871800002
-
Health Care Providers' Reports of Perceived Stigma Associated with HIV and AIDS in Rural and Urban Communities
JOURNAL OF HIV-AIDS & SOCIAL SERVICES
2010; 9 (4): 356–70
View details for DOI 10.1080/15381501.2010.525480
View details for Web of Science ID 000212892300004
-
Stigma, Hope, and Challenge in Psychiatry: Trainee Perspectives From Five Countries on Four Continents
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2010; 34 (1): 1-4
View details for Web of Science ID 000273497100001
View details for PubMedID 20071716
-
Mental disorders, health inequalities and ethics: A global perspective
INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF PSYCHIATRY
2010; 22 (3): 235-244
Abstract
The global burden of neuropsychiatry diseases and related mental health conditions is enormous, underappreciated and under resourced, particularly in the developing nations. The absence of adequate and quality mental health infrastructure and workforce is increasingly recognized. The ethical implications of inequalities in mental health for people and nations are profound and must be addressed in efforts to fulfil key bioethics principles of medicine and public health: respect for individuals, justice, beneficence, and non-malfeasance. Stigma and discrimination against people living with mental disorders affects their education, employment, access to care and hampers their capacity to contribute to society. Mental health well-being is closely associated to several Millennium Development Goals and economic development sectors including education, labour force participation, and productivity. Limited access to mental health care increases patient and family suffering. Unmet mental health needs have a negative effect on poverty reduction initiatives and economic development. Untreated mental conditions contribute to economic loss because they increase school and work absenteeism and dropout rates, healthcare expenditure, and unemployment. Addressing unmet mental health needs will require development of better mental health infrastructure and workforce and overall integration of mental and physical health services with primary care, especially in the developing nations.
View details for DOI 10.3109/09540261.2010.485273
View details for Web of Science ID 000278755600002
View details for PubMedID 20528652
-
Medical Students' Affirmation of Ethics Education
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2009; 33 (6): 470-477
Abstract
Despite the acknowledged importance of ethics education in medical school, little empirical work has been done to assess the needs and preferences of medical students regarding ethics curricula.Eighty-three medical students at the University of New Mexico participated in a self-administered written survey including 41 scaled questions regarding attitudes, needs, and preferences toward medical ethics and ethics education.Students reported strong personal interest in learning more about ethics in clinical medicine and research. They most strongly endorsed as valid objectives of ethics education the goals of helping professionals "better recognize ethical issues and clarify values-laden choices," "improve patient care and clinical decision-making," and "improve ethical practices in clinical research." Participants strongly agreed that "professional attitudes and values are an appropriate focus for medical education" and also expressed strong interest in learning more about specific ethical topics and learning methods. Women more strongly endorsed interest in additional ethics education and a preference for increased ethics education than men. Preclinical participants expressed a greater desire for additional training on all ethics topics than clinical students.The medical students surveyed strongly affirmed ethics education in medical school and expressed clear preferences for curricular topics and teaching methods.
View details for Web of Science ID 000272074900007
View details for PubMedID 19933891
-
When Residents Need Health Care: Stigma of the Patient Role
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2009; 33 (6): 431-441
Abstract
Whether and under what circumstances medical residents seek personal health care is a growing concern that has important implications for medical education and patient welfare, but has not been thoroughly investigated. Barriers to obtaining care have been previously documented, but very little empirical work has focused on trainees who seek health care at their home institution.A self-report survey on special issues in personal health care of residents was created and distributed at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine in 2001. The authors report findings regarding stigma, fear of jeopardy to training status, and attitudes toward seeking self-care for residents in dual roles as patients and trainees.Residents (N=155) rated their concerns regarding stigma and jeopardy to training status and the likelihood of seeking care at their training institution for six vignettes. The vignettes were paired to make comparisons between attending or supervisor as treating physician and between clinical scenarios. Alcohol abuse, nausea and diarrhea, panic attacks, and pregnancy were the most highly stigmatizing to residents; diabetes and hypertension were the least. Differences were also found for gender and specialty.Residents' perceived stigma for clinical situations was an influential factor, strongly affecting concern about jeopardizing training status and likelihood of avoiding care at their home institution.
View details for Web of Science ID 000272074900002
View details for PubMedID 19933883
-
Professionalism and Ethics Education on Relationships and Boundaries: Psychiatric Residents' Training Preferences
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2009; 33 (6): 461-469
Abstract
Awareness of the privileges and limits of one's role as physician, as well as recognition and respect for the patient as a human being, are central to ethical medical practice. The authors were particularly interested in examining the attitudes and perceived needs of psychiatric residents toward education on professional boundaries and relationships given the heightened current focus on professionalism and ethics.Residents from six psychiatric residencies provided views on professionalism and ethics education on a survey encompassing 10 domains of professionalism. The authors focus on residents' perceived need for education on boundaries in the psychiatrist-patient relationship and in peer-peer and supervisor-trainee interactions.Respondents (N=134) felt that nine relationship and boundary issues arising during training should receive more education: being asked to work with inadequate supervision, resolving conflicts between attendings and trainees, resident health care, adequately caring for patients while adhering to work-hour guidelines, performing work beyond one's competence, mistreatment of residents, sexual/romantic relationships between faculty and trainees, mistreatment of medical students, and sexual/romantic relationships between residents and medical students (p<0.05 in all cases). In addition, 15 relationship and boundary issues arising during clinical practice were felt to warrant more education: responding to impaired colleagues, coping with mistakes in clinical care, reporting mistakes, balancing personal and professional life, resolving conflicts, writing prescriptions for friends or family, allocation of health care resources, providing medical advice to friends and family, physicians' social responsibilities, interacting with families, medicine as a profession, gender bias, being asked to falsify clinical information, accepting gifts from patients, and personal relationships with patients (p<0.05 in all cases).The authors found a perceived need for more education for psychiatric residents for the majority of topics pertaining to boundaries and relationships. Residents who reported encountering ethical dilemmas more frequently wanted more education on these topics.
View details for Web of Science ID 000272074900006
View details for PubMedID 19933889
-
Professionalism in Psychiatry: A Very Special Collection
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2009; 33 (6): 429-430
View details for Web of Science ID 000272074900001
View details for PubMedID 19933882
-
Mistreatment of Trainees: Verbal Abuse and Other Bullying Behaviors
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2009; 33 (4): 269-273
View details for Web of Science ID 000269055600001
View details for PubMedID 19690101
-
Hard Duty
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2009; 33 (4): 274-277
View details for Web of Science ID 000269055600002
View details for PubMedID 19690103
-
Ethics in Psychiatry: A Review Preface
PSYCHIATRIC CLINICS OF NORTH AMERICA
2009; 32 (2): XIII-XV
View details for DOI 10.1016/j.psc.2009.04.001
View details for Web of Science ID 000267411000001
View details for PubMedID 19486810
-
A Basic Decision-Making Approach to Common Ethical Issues in Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry
PSYCHIATRIC CLINICS OF NORTH AMERICA
2009; 32 (2): 315-?
Abstract
Ethical dilemmas are found throughout the daily work of C-L psychiatrists. Unfortunately, most psychiatrists have no more training in ethics than their nonpsychiatric colleagues. Psychiatric consults spurred by ethical dilemmas can provoke anxiety in psychiatrists and leave anxious colleagues without the clear recommendations they seek. C-L psychiatrists, and probably all psychiatrists, need more training in clinical ethics. C-L psychiatrists do not need to become clinical ethicists, but competence in handling the ethical issues most commonly seen in C-L work is needed. The 2008 ABPN guidelines for specialists in psychosomatic medicine mention specific ethics topics important in C-L work, and ways of attaining competence in these areas have been discussed in the C-L literature. The four cases discussed here illustrate the high level of complexity often seen in situations in which ethical dilemmas arise in C-L psychiatry. Given the sometimes furious pace of hospital work, it can be easy for C-L psychiatrists to be seduced by the idea of the quick, focused consult that simply responds to a simple question with a simple answer. Because cases involving ethical dilemmas often involve multiple stakeholders, each with his or her own set of concerns, a brief consult focused only on the patient often leads to errors of omission. A wider approach, such as that suggested by the Four Topics Method, is needed to successfully negotiate ethical dilemmas. Busy C-L psychiatry services may struggle at first to find the time to do the type of global evaluations discussed here, but increasing familiarity with approaches such as the Four Topics Method should lead to quicker ways of gathering and processing the needed information.
View details for DOI 10.1016/j.psc.2009.03.001
View details for Web of Science ID 000267411000007
View details for PubMedID 19486816
-
Ethics in Psychotherapy: A Focus on Professional Boundaries and Confidentiality Practices
PSYCHIATRIC CLINICS OF NORTH AMERICA
2009; 32 (2): 299-?
Abstract
The practice of psychotherapy gives rise to many ethical dilemmas. In this article we offered a "primer" on the most commonly cited ethical concerns in psychotherapy related to professionalism and therapeutic boundaries and confidentiality. There is no single answer to the varied and complex ethical issues that therapists may encounter in their treatment of patients. Such dilemmas are dynamic, nuanced, complex, and highly context dependent. Although professional codes offer guidance on optimal standards of conduct, they do not always offer clear answers; hence, therapists need to be able to critically evaluate and interpret such codes in relation to their daily practice. The contemporary therapist continues to face new dilemmas in an ever-evolving and dynamic twenty-first-century practice environment. Ethical therapists serve the well-being of their patients above all other interests or commitments. Therapists who are attentive to the professional obligations they possess can adopt several strategies to increase their ethical competence, including constantly evaluating their own attitudes and behaviors in addition to those of their patients, engaging in dialog and developing expertise in relation to ethics issues, having a solid grasp of relevant professional codes of conduct, and demonstrating an openness to consultation with peers and exposure of their work to peer review.
View details for DOI 10.1016/j.psc.2009.03.005
View details for Web of Science ID 000267411000006
View details for PubMedID 19486815
-
The Ethics of Psychiatric Education
PSYCHIATRIC CLINICS OF NORTH AMERICA
2009; 32 (2): 413-?
Abstract
Evidence-based medicine and the professional virtues of integrity, compassion, self-effacement, and self-sacrifice constitute the cornerstones of an ethics of psychiatric education. As informed by the pioneering work of John Gregory, psychiatric educators must promote evidence-based and ethically justified behaviors in learners and practicing physicians through example and by formal teaching. These processes together will enable patients to trust the competence of psychiatrists and that psychiatrists will serve the interests of patients first.
View details for DOI 10.1016/j.psc.2009.02.007
View details for Web of Science ID 000267411000013
View details for PubMedID 19486822
-
Genetic Testing of Stored Biological Samples: Views of 570 US Workers
GENETIC TESTING AND MOLECULAR BIOMARKERS
2009; 13 (3): 331-337
Abstract
Storing tissue samples for future genetic testing raises practical and ethical issues regarding informed consent and confidentiality. Employed adults' views on this are uniquely valuable but have been little studied.This study surveyed 570 employees at a U.S. defense laboratory and an academic medical center regarding their willingness to have tissue stored for future genetic testing, interest in receiving results of future testing and being contacted for consent for future testing, and acceptability of various tissue-storage options.Respondents were somewhat interested in providing samples and significantly less interested in providing traceable samples than untraceable samples. Workers with concerns about having a genetic illness were more interested in providing tissue for future testing. Most participants expressed strong desire to be asked before future genotyping and to receive those test results. Respondents preferred that tissue samples be stored with their doctor, local medical facility, or local research university rather than with their employer, a government agency, or an insurance company.Employed adults valued future genetic testing as being important to their well-being and strongly preferred reconsenting for future use of stored tissue. These data provide a baseline to measure potential changes in workers' attitudes since the passage of the U.S. Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act in 2008.
View details for DOI 10.1089/gtmb.2008.0117
View details for Web of Science ID 000266407800010
View details for PubMedID 19405873
-
Ethical Considerations in Military Psychiatry
PSYCHIATRIC CLINICS OF NORTH AMERICA
2009; 32 (2): 271-?
Abstract
Military psychiatrists are faced with multiple, difficult questions that shape the context for ethical patient care. These questions are difficult to answer and future efforts, including policy and evidence-based treatment practices, should aim at reducing the ambiguity faced by military psychiatrists. New research should focus on issues as diverse as optimal approaches to informed consent, evidence-derived approaches to protecting confidentiality, outcomes of care for individuals in widely varying military roles, and medication use in the field. Training for mental health care providers who deal with military patients should be provided not only in military graduate medical education but also in job-specific courses and in ethics. This should include specific training for personnel who will be dealing with specific populations, such as the US Army's current "Dealing with Detainee course" and the Army Medical Department's "Combat Operational Stress Course" for deploying military psychiatrists and psychologists.
View details for DOI 10.1016/j.psc.2009.02.006
View details for Web of Science ID 000267411000004
View details for PubMedID 19486813
-
Educational Research Questions and Study Design
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2009; 33 (3): 261-267
View details for Web of Science ID 000267713700016
View details for PubMedID 19574529
-
Directors of Medical Student Education in Psychiatry and Recruitment Into Psychiatry: An Ethical Issue?
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2009; 33 (3): 177-179
View details for Web of Science ID 000267713700001
View details for PubMedID 19574509
-
Leadership in Academic Psychiatry: The Vision, the "Givens," and the Nature of Leaders
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2009; 33 (2): 85-88
View details for Web of Science ID 000265526000001
View details for PubMedID 19398615
-
Delaying Care, Avoiding Stigma: Residents' Attitudes Toward Obtaining Personal Health Care
ACADEMIC MEDICINE
2009; 84 (2): 242-250
Abstract
The authors sought to understand the health issues and care-seeking practices reported by residents and explored the extent to which fear of academic jeopardy, stigma, and being the subject of discussion by colleagues may affect residents' care-seeking.Residents at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center were surveyed in 2000-2001 regarding avoidance or postponement of obtaining necessary health care, responses of others to absences, and perceptions of jeopardy to training status if a supervisor learned of a specific condition. Responses were analyzed via repeated-measures MANOVA.Of 217 surveys, 155 were returned (71% response rate). Concerns with mental health, pain, minor infections, or relationship, sleep-related, fatigue, or gynecological/urological problems were expressed by 26% to 43% of residents. Concerns of potential jeopardy if a director or supervisor learned about personal health issues were strongest for problems with drugs/alcohol, moderately high for HIV, and moderate for mental health, eating-related problems, cancer, and STDs. Residents had sometimes avoided seeking care, and 18% had often avoided or delayed care-seeking; women delayed or avoided care more often than men. More frequent avoidance of seeking care was associated with poorer self-rated mental and physical health and greater health concerns.Residents at times postpone or avoid seeking care. Time and scheduling difficulties influence the ability to obtain care. Perceptions of potential academic jeopardy, stigma, and reactions of colleagues may affect residents' attitudes and care-seeking. Further inquiry is essential to understand how extensively these factors may influence the well-being of residents.
View details for Web of Science ID 000267655000028
View details for PubMedID 19174679
-
US Department of Veterans Affairs and Academic Departments of Psychiatry: A Substantive, Enduring, and Promising Collaboration
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2009; 33 (1): 1-3
View details for Web of Science ID 000264926700001
View details for PubMedID 19349433
-
Community-Based Participatory Research for Improved Mental Health
ETHICS & BEHAVIOR
2009; 19 (6): 461-478
Abstract
Community-based participatory research (CBPR) focuses on specific community needs, and produces results that directly address those needs. Although conducting ethical CBPR is critical to its success, few academic programs include this training in their curricula. This paper describes the development and evaluation of an online training course designed to increase the use of CBPR in mental health disciplines. Developed using a participatory approach involving a community of experts, this course challenges traditional research by introducing a collaborative process meant to encourage increased participation by special populations, and narrow the parity gap in effective mental health treatment and services delivery.
View details for DOI 10.1080/10508420903274971
View details for Web of Science ID 000272731300002
View details for PubMedCentralID PMC2825708
-
Authorship in Scholarly Manuscripts: Practical Considerations for Resident and Early Career Physicians
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2009; 33 (1): 76-79
View details for Web of Science ID 000264926700016
View details for PubMedID 19349451
-
When Providers and Patients Come from Different Backgrounds: Perceived Value of Additional Training on Ethical Care Practices
TRANSCULTURAL PSYCHIATRY
2008; 45 (4): 553-565
Abstract
Fostering the therapeutic alliance, safeguarding confidentiality, gaining informed consent, and enhancing treatment adherence are critical aspects of patient care. We examined whether multidisciplinary health care providers perceive additional training on these areas as helpful in their work with patients from different ethnic backgrounds than the provider. Data are drawn from a National Institute on Drug Abuse-funded survey of 1555 providers in 8 disciplines in New Mexico and Alaska. Clinicians viewed additional training as moderately helpful for ensuring treatment adherence, establishing the therapeutic alliance, safeguarding confidentiality, and engaging in informed consent processes, in that order. Women were more receptive than men to additional training. Modest differences were detected between behavioral and physical health providers and between minority and majority providers. Implications of providers' only modest interest in such training are discussed.
View details for DOI 10.1177/1363461508100782
View details for Web of Science ID 000262346400002
View details for PubMedID 19091725
-
Teaching Evidence-Based Psychiatry to Residents and Fellows: Developing the Curriculum
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2008; 32 (6): 453-457
View details for Web of Science ID 000262780000001
View details for PubMedID 19190286
-
A review of ethics in psychiatric research
CURRENT OPINION IN PSYCHIATRY
2008; 21 (6): 572-577
Abstract
To summarize important recent contributions to the literature on the subject of ethics in psychiatric research.Current literature reflects an expansion in the range of psychiatric research on ethics topics. Articles continue to appear on core ethics subjects such as informed consent, but many recent contributions focus on diverse issues such as third-party privacy, the ethics of Internet-based research, revisiting the wisdom of imposing medical ethics requirements on observational research, and psychiatric research ethics as applied to special populations such as children or older persons.Psychiatric research is critical for the elucidation, prevention, and treatment of mental diseases. Increased attention and novel approaches taken to obtain informed consent, correcting therapeutic misconception, and guarding privacy will advance the research enterprise and continue to ensure that the subjective experiences of participants in psychiatric research remain positive.
View details for DOI 10.1097/YCO.0b013e32830aba23
View details for Web of Science ID 000260819700009
View details for PubMedID 18852565
-
Wise Advice (from an Unlikely Source) for the Profession of Academic Psychiatry
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2008; 32 (5): 345-345
View details for Web of Science ID 000260202200001
View details for PubMedID 18945970
-
Mexican immigrant women's perceptions of health care access for stigmatizing illnesses: A focus group study in Albuquerque, New Mexico
JOURNAL OF HEALTH CARE FOR THE POOR AND UNDERSERVED
2008; 19 (3): 857-873
Abstract
This study examines attitudes of Mexican female immigrants to Albuquerque, New Mexico, regarding barriers to health care access in the United States and Mexico for stigmatizing and non-stigmatizing illnesses and moderating effects of social support. Native Spanish speakers conducted three focus groups (in Spanish) lasting two hours with seven to eight participants. Focus groups were transcribed, translated, and coded. Frequency data were calculated by number of times concepts or themes were raised. Comparisons of barriers to health care access were made between U.S. and Mexican cultures. The majority (86%) of comments on barriers for non-stigmatizing illnesses implicated U.S. culture; the majority (90%) for stigmatizing illnesses implicated Mexican culture. Social support for stigmatizing illnesses was discussed. Participants discussed important issues of health care access for stigmatizing illnesses that may have implications for this population's health status. Greater attention should be paid to stigma and social support in future empirical studies.
View details for Web of Science ID 000258350700016
View details for PubMedID 18677075
-
Psychiatrists' attitudes regarding genetic testing and patient safeguards: A preliminary study
GENETIC TESTING
2008; 12 (2): 245-252
Abstract
A probability sample of U.S. psychiatrists (n = 93) was invited to complete a mail survey regarding the likely impact of genetic testing on psychiatry; the clinical utility of pharmacogenetic, diagnostic, and susceptibility genetic testing; and 14 proposed ethical and legal safeguards for clinical genetic testing.Forty-five psychiatrists participated in the survey (response rate = 48%). The majority (80% and 60%, respectively) believed that genetic testing would benefit many psychiatric patients and would dramatically change the way psychiatry is practiced. Many psychiatrists (73-85%) also stated that pharmacogenetic, diagnostic, and susceptibility tests for common psychiatric disorders would be somewhat useful or extremely useful in the clinical setting. Nearly all (98-100%) believed that psychiatrists should obtain informed consent before genetic testing, should keep test results confidential, should provide pre- and posttest counseling, and should demonstrate competence in interpreting test results. Nearly all (96-100%) supported laws and regulations to prevent discrimination based on genetic test results and to protect consumers from misleading advertisements for testing. Ninety-one percent endorsed restrictions on the sale of genetic tests directly to consumers.This probability sample of U.S. psychiatrists expressed a strongly positive view of genetic testing in psychiatry, while voicing nearly unanimous support for seven ethical and legal safeguards.
View details for DOI 10.1089/gte.2007.0097
View details for Web of Science ID 000256837200012
View details for PubMedID 18452395
-
Psychiatrists' attitudes, knowledge, and experience regarding genetics: a preliminary study
GENETICS IN MEDICINE
2008; 10 (6): 439-449
View details for DOI 10.1097/GIM.0b013e318177014b
View details for Web of Science ID 000256959900008
-
Psychiatrists' attitudes, knowledge, and experience regarding genetics: a preliminary study.
Genetics in medicine : official journal of the American College of Medical Genetics
2008
Abstract
PURPOSE:: This study is the first survey of a random national sample of US psychiatrists to assess attitudes, knowledge, and clinical experience regarding genetics. We hypothesized that clinicians with more recent genetics training would demonstrate more positive attitudes and greater genetics knowledge and experience than those with less recent training. METHODS:: A probability sample of US psychiatrists (n = 93) was invited to participate in a mail survey regarding genetic medicine. RESULTS:: Forty-five psychiatrists completed the survey (response rate = 48%). All believed that genetics strongly or moderately influenced a person's mental health. Respondents expressed positive attitudes toward incorporating genetics into psychiatric practice, but most did not have recent genetics training or experience in referring patients to genetic counselors or ordering genetic tests. Psychiatrists who had genetics training within the previous 5 years had more experience in providing genetic services. CONCLUSIONS:: This survey identified areas of strength (positive attitudes about providing genetic services, belief in the heritability of mental illness) and future targets for educational intervention (general genetics, information about testing and counseling resources). The association between recent training and a greater level of clinical genetics experience suggests that educational efforts may be successful in preparing psychiatrists to provide genetic services in the future.
View details for DOI 10.1097/GIM.0b013e318177014b
View details for PubMedID 18496226
-
Adaptations to health care barriers as reported by rural and urban providers
JOURNAL OF HEALTH CARE FOR THE POOR AND UNDERSERVED
2008; 19 (2): 532-549
Abstract
Barriers to ethical and effective health care in rural communities have been well-documented; however, less is known about strategies rural providers use to overcome such barriers. This study compared adaptations by rural and urban health care providers. Physical and behavioral health care providers were randomly selected from licensure lists for eight groups to complete a survey; 1,546 (52%) responded. Replies indicated that health care providers from small rural and rural communities were more likely to integrate community resources, individualize treatment recommendations, safeguard client confidentiality, seek out additional expertise, and adjust treatment styles than were providers from small urban and urban communities. Behavioral health care providers were more likely than physical health care providers to integrate community resources, individualize treatment recommendations, safeguard client confidentiality, and adjust their treatment styles; physical health care providers were more likely than behavioral health care providers to make attempts or have options to seek out additional expertise.
View details for Web of Science ID 000255653300020
View details for PubMedID 18469424
-
Stigma in mental health care
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2008; 32 (2): 70-72
View details for Web of Science ID 000253907100002
View details for PubMedID 18349322
-
Globalization of medical and psychiatric education and the focus of Academic psychiatry on the success of "International" authors
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2008; 32 (2): 151-153
View details for Web of Science ID 000253907100017
View details for PubMedID 18349337
-
Ethical issues in psychiatric research on children and adolescents
CHILD AND ADOLESCENT PSYCHIATRIC CLINICS OF NORTH AMERICA
2008; 17 (1): 127-?
Abstract
Psychiatric research on children and adolescents is ethically justified by the need to reduce the burden that mental illnesses place on young people, their families, and society. Such research must be conducted with careful attention to the ethical principles of beneficence, justice, and respect for persons. Child and adolescent psychiatrists who collaborate on research trials or advise patients and families about research participation should consider nine domains when evaluating the ethical acceptability of particular protocols. These domains include scientific merit and design; expertise, commitment, and integrity; risks and benefits; confidentiality; participant selection and recruitment; informed consent and decisional capacity; incentives; institution and peer/professional review; and data presentation. Special ethical issues in child and adolescent psychiatry research concern the use of randomized, controlled treatment trials; the informed consent process for research involving adolescents; the therapeutic misconception; and conflicts of interest in physician referrals.
View details for DOI 10.1016/j.chc.2007.07.003
View details for Web of Science ID 000252029200011
View details for PubMedID 18036483
-
Ethics and Culture in Mental Health Care
ETHICS & BEHAVIOR
2008; 18 (4): 353-372
View details for DOI 10.1080/10508420701713048
View details for Web of Science ID 000261189300003
-
Personal health care of residents: Preferences for care outside of the training institution
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2008; 32 (1): 20-30
Abstract
The personal health care issues of residents are important but have received minimal study. Available evidence suggests that residents experience difficulties obtaining care, partly related to both the demands of medical training and concerns about confidentiality and privacy.A self-report survey was distributed in 2000-2001 to advanced residents at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center. Questions related to personal health and health care attitudes, behaviors, preferences, and experiences, and vignettes related to personal illness and treatment. Here the authors report findings regarding preferences for obtaining health care "at" versus "outside" of one's training institution.Data from 141 residents are presented. A substantial minority of residents had obtained care outside of their institution in the preceding year. Residents expressed concerns about their medical privacy and confidentiality related to obtaining care within their own institution, including concerns about being seen by other residents or by past or future attendings. Women expressed more concern than did men on numerous issues, as did residents in primary care versus specialty training. Residents expressed a preference for care outside the training institution when taking into account confidentiality and prevention of embarrassment; care at their own institution was preferred when considering expense and scheduling. Outside care was more strongly preferred for more stigmatizing illnesses (e.g., mental health-related). Most residents felt poorly informed regarding their personal health care confidentiality rights and did not know whether their institution had confidentiality policies regarding residents who develop physical or mental health problems.Residents worry about confidentiality and privacy when deciding where to obtain personal medical care. Trainees' concerns are relevant to crafting policies on resident health care. Programs should strive to inform residents thoroughly about policies and rights pertaining to personal health care.
View details for Web of Science ID 000253095000005
View details for PubMedID 18270277
-
Drug abuse research in rural communities: Current knowledge and future directions
JOURNAL OF RURAL HEALTH
2007; 23: 4-9
View details for Web of Science ID 000251939700002
View details for PubMedID 18237318
-
Ethical disparities: Challenges encountered by multidisciplinary providers in fulfilling ethical standards in the care of rural and minority people
JOURNAL OF RURAL HEALTH
2007; 23: 89-97
Abstract
Health care disparities are well documented for people living in rural areas and for people who are members of ethnic minorities.Our goal was to determine whether providers report greater difficulty in providing care for rural than urban residents and for ethnic minorities than patients/clients in general in 4 practice areas of ethical relevance: attaining treatment adherence, assuring confidentiality, establishing therapeutic alliance, and engaging in informed consent processes.We received survey responses from 1,558 multidisciplinary medical and behavioral providers across rural and non-rural areas of New Mexico and Alaska in 2004 to assess a wide range of issues in providing health care.Providers reported some difficulties in fulfilling various ethical practices for all types of patients, but not more difficulty when caring for minority compared to nonminority patients/clients. However, they do report more frequent additional problems related to the practice issues of treatment adherence, therapeutic alliance, informed consent, and confidentiality with minority patients than others. Difficulties and more frequent additional problems are greater for providers in rural than in non-rural areas. Results generalize across both Alaska and New Mexico with few differences.We obtained evidence for disparity in care for patients/ clients who were minority group members, and clear evidence of disparity for people residing in rural compared to non-rural areas of 2 states with large rural areas.
View details for Web of Science ID 000251939700015
View details for PubMedID 18237331
View details for PubMedCentralID PMC2386414
-
Encountering patient suicide: Emotional responses, ethics, and implications for training programs
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2007; 31 (5): 329-332
View details for Web of Science ID 000249209100001
View details for PubMedID 17875611
-
The enculturation of medical students and residents
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2007; 31 (4): 253-257
View details for Web of Science ID 000248049500001
View details for PubMedID 17626184
-
Enhancing the international status of Academic Psychiatry
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2007; 31 (3): 177-179
View details for Web of Science ID 000246445500001
View details for PubMedID 17496170
-
Balancing the personal and the professional: Should and can we teach this?
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2007; 31 (2): 129-132
View details for Web of Science ID 000244766300018
View details for PubMedID 17344452
-
DNR versus DNT: Clinical implications of a conceptual ambiguity: A case analysis
PSYCHOSOMATICS
2007; 48 (1): 10-15
Abstract
Psychiatrists who practice psychosomatic medicine are routinely called upon to help resolve ethical dilemmas that arise in the care of patients near the end of their lives. Psychosomatic-medicine psychiatrists may be of unique value in these situations because of the clinical insights that we bring to the care of the dying patient. In particular, our subspecialty brings expertise related to the evaluation of decisional capacity of patients who are faced with accepting or declining end-of-life clinical interventions, such as resuscitation and intubation. In this first entry in a new bioethics case series in Psychosomatics, we will lay the groundwork for examining a complex patient case and provide an illustrative analysis of the end-of-life care issues that may be addressed by psychiatrists who practice psychosomatic medicine.
View details for Web of Science ID 000243313300002
View details for PubMedID 17209144
-
Exploring differences in caseloads of rural and urban healthcare providers in Alaska and New Mexico
PUBLIC HEALTH
2007; 121 (1): 3-17
Abstract
Although it is commonly accepted that rural healthcare providers face demands that are both qualitatively and quantitatively different from those faced by urban providers, this conclusion is based largely on data from healthcare consumers and relies on qualitative work with small sample sizes, surveys with small sample sizes, theoretical reviews and anecdotal reports. To enhance our knowledge of the demands faced by rural healthcare providers and to gain the perspectives of healthcare providers themselves, this study explored the caseloads of rural providers compared with those of urban providers.An extensive survey of over 1500 licensed clinicians across eight physical and behavioural healthcare provider groups in Alaska and New Mexico was undertaken to explore differences in caseloads based on community size (small rural, rural, small urban, urban), state (Alaska, New Mexico) and discipline (health, behavioural).Findings indicated numerous caseload differences between community sizes that were consistent across both states, with complex case presentations being described most commonly by small rural and rural providers. Substance abuse, alcohol use, cultural diversity, economic disadvantage and age diversity were issues faced more often by providers in rural and small rural communities than by providers in small urban and urban communities. Rural, but not small rural, providers faced challenges around work with prisoners and individuals needing involuntary hospitalization. Although some state and discipline differences were noted, the most important findings were based on community size.The findings of this study have important implications for provider preparation and training, future research, tailored resource allocation, public health policy, and efforts to prevent 'burnout' of rural providers.
View details for DOI 10.1016/j.puhe.2006.07.031
View details for Web of Science ID 000243804800002
View details for PubMedID 17169386
-
Shaping medical students' attitudes toward ethically important aspects of clinical research: Results of a randomized, controlled educational intervention
ETHICS & BEHAVIOR
2007; 17 (1): 19-50
View details for Web of Science ID 000247080400002
-
An inverse relationship between perceived harm and participation willingness in schizophrenia research protocols
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRY
2006; 163 (11): 2002-2004
Abstract
This study attempted to clarify how people with schizophrenia evaluate the potential harm associated with various research-related procedures and how these assessments relate to participation willingness.The authors conducted a semistructured interview among participants with schizophrenia.Sixty participants with schizophrenia rated four procedures as harmful (e.g., symptom induction), five procedures as moderately harmful (e.g., being given a placebo), and six procedures as not harmful (e.g., undergoing a physical examination). Rated willingness to participate was inversely related to the participants' perceptions of harmfulness for all procedures.In this study, people living with schizophrenia perceived different research procedures as posing different levels of possible harm. Potential harm appears to be an important consideration in protocol enrollment decisions. This work reaffirms the value of clarifying the strengths of seriously ill people who may choose to participate in research.
View details for Web of Science ID 000241669900026
View details for PubMedID 17074954
-
Assessments by patients with schizophrenia and psychiatrists of relative risk of research procedures
PSYCHIATRIC SERVICES
2006; 57 (11): 1629-1635
Abstract
Schizophrenia studies involve diverse procedures with varying levels of risk. Federal regulations indicate that oversight of these protocols entails assessment of risk in relation to the risks encountered in everyday life. No data exist on comparing assessments of people with schizophrenia with those of psychiatrists regarding research procedure risks in relation to the usual risks of living with schizophrenia.Structured interviews were given to 43 people with schizophrenia and a parallel written survey was given to 68 psychiatrists to compare assessments of relative risk. Twelve research procedures were rated to compare the risk of the procedure with everyday risks. Possible scores range from 1, much less risk, to 3, about the same, to 5, much more risk.People with schizophrenia and psychiatrists viewed filling out questionnaires, drawing a tube of blood, drawing a tube of blood for a genetic test, and having X-rays of the head as being less risky than usual daily risks. Psychiatrists saw showing a word or picture that is upsetting as being less risky than usual daily risks. In contrast, patients saw having a spinal tap, getting a new experimental medication, getting a medication that causes temporary symptoms of schizophrenia, and stopping usual medications for two weeks as being significantly more risky than usual daily risks, but psychiatrists rated only stopping usual medications for two weeks as being more risky than usual daily risks.Substantial congruence exists between patients and psychiatrists regarding their views of research procedure risks. Further work is needed to determine how these assessments may be used in evaluating protocols.
View details for Web of Science ID 000241768200012
View details for PubMedID 17085612
-
Survey return rates as a function of priority versus first-class mailing
PSYCHOLOGICAL REPORTS
2006; 99 (2): 496-501
Abstract
Prior research indicates survey procedures that signal significance and individualized mailings have higher response rates. Thus, it was hypothesized that surveys delivered via Priority mail would result in higher return rates than surveys delivered via First-Class. 260 surveys were sent to individuals randomly selected from lists of licensed physical and behavioral healthcare providers in Alaska and New Mexico. Half of the selected individuals were assigned randomly to receive mailings using Priority mail, the other half received First-Class mailings. Return rate was 39% for First-Class and 35% for Priority. Z tests of proportion indicated no statistically significant differences between methods. Given increased costs with no resultant increase in response rate, sending surveys to potential participants via Priority mail does not appear warranted.
View details for DOI 10.2466/PR0.99.2.496-501
View details for Web of Science ID 000242197800023
View details for PubMedID 17153820
-
Writing the methods
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2006; 30 (5): 361-364
View details for Web of Science ID 000241026900001
View details for PubMedID 17021142
-
Philanthropy, ethics, and leadership in academic psychiatry
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2006; 30 (4): 269-272
View details for Web of Science ID 000239687900001
View details for PubMedID 16908601
-
Rural-urban health care provider disparities in Alaska and New Mexico
ADMINISTRATION AND POLICY IN MENTAL HEALTH AND MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH
2006; 33 (4): 504-507
Abstract
Compared to their urban counterparts, rural residents face numerous disparities in obtaining health care, including limited access to care providers. We assessed disparities in provider availability in rural versus urban Alaska and New Mexico, with emphasis on professionals likely to provide mental health care. Using lists of licenses, we categorized physical and mental health care providers into rural versus urban and calculated rural versus urban disparity ratios. Rural residents had significantly less access to health care providers and discrepancies grew with level of required provider education and specialization. Addressing disparities via creative strategies is crucial to improving rural care delivery.
View details for DOI 10.1007/s10488-005-0001-7
View details for Web of Science ID 000239016500010
View details for PubMedID 16220242
-
Preferences of Alaska and New Mexico psychiatrists regarding professionalism and ethics training
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2006; 30 (3): 200-204
Abstract
To identify the preferences of practicing licensed psychiatrists in two rural states regarding ethics training.All licensed psychiatrists in Alaska and New Mexico were mailed a survey exploring differences in ethical and practice issues between rural and urban health care providers. Data were collected from 97 psychiatrists.Findings indicated a moderate level of interest in training related to a diverse set of ethics topics. Although women expressed greater interest in most topics than did men, ranking of topics was similar across genders. Level of interest in training was inversely related to number of years in practice.The psychiatrists in this study indicated some interest in professionalism and ethics training, but did not express the level of need or enthusiasm documented in many studies of physicians-in-training. Creating continuing medical education initiatives that are attuned to the distinct needs and preferences of psychiatrists in clinical practice thus poses many challenges. This may be particularly true for certain aspects of practice, such as ethics and professionalism, that have long been recognized as vital to clinical care, but now are viewed as core competency areas.
View details for Web of Science ID 000237768600004
View details for PubMedID 16728766
-
Applying to psychiatry residency programs
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2006; 30 (3): 239-247
View details for Web of Science ID 000237768600010
View details for PubMedID 16728772
-
Ethical philanthropy in academic psychiatry
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRY
2006; 163 (5): 772-778
Abstract
From an ethical perspective, psychiatrists cannot accept gifts of significant monetary value from their patients. This guideline raises important questions regarding institutional practices related to gift-giving in academic psychiatry. The first aim of this article is to explain the ethical tensions and shared ethical commitments of the professions of psychiatry and philanthropy. The second aim is to outline a series of steps that may be undertaken to assure ethical philanthropic practices within an institution, including the establishment of a committed advisory workgroup and the creation of ground rules and safeguards for gift-giving. Each situation should be evaluated for "ethical risk," and specific measures to safeguard donors should be considered.The author outlines methods to manage, minimize, or eliminate conflict of interest issues, including identification and disclosure of conflicting interests, role separation, goal clarification, confidentiality protections, proper timing, and ongoing oversight. Three case illustrations are provided and discussed.The process of institutional engagement, dialogue, and shared problem-solving is especially important. A shared, constructive ethic will be attained only if leaders and diverse stakeholders communicate the value of the new approach through their words, expectations, and actions.Through these efforts, greater attention will be given to the concerns of people with mental illness, and academic institutions may be better able to fulfill their responsibilities to this important but neglected population now and in the future.
View details for Web of Science ID 000237136000007
View details for PubMedID 16648314
-
Introduction: Report of the APA's task force on research ethics
PSYCHIATRIC SERVICES
2006; 57 (4): 550-551
View details for Web of Science ID 000236702200017
View details for PubMedID 16603752
-
The need for continuing education in ethics as reported by rural and urban mental health care providers
PROFESSIONAL PSYCHOLOGY-RESEARCH AND PRACTICE
2006; 37 (2): 183-189
View details for DOI 10.1037/0735-7028.37.2.183
View details for Web of Science ID 000236826000012
-
Ethical principles and practices for research involving human participants with mental illness
PSYCHIATRIC SERVICES
2006; 57 (4): 552-557
Abstract
This report of the American Psychiatric Association's task force on research ethics addresses ethical issues related to the conduct of research involving human participants with mental illness. The report includes discussion of recruitment and ongoing participation of persons whose decisional capacity may be impaired and the ethical costs of categorically excluding persons with serious mental illness. Investigators should receive education in research ethics that addresses rules and norms governing research; sensitivity to ethical implications of decisions and actions; and skills in ethical problem solving, including ascertainment and disclosure of conflicts of interest. Ethical research design must ensure that a study has scientific merit, methods used should yield knowledge of value, and procedures must minimize risks to participants and optimize benefits. When risks are anticipated, plans should be developed to ensure participants' safety. The task force concludes with 12 recommendations for researchers, ethical review bodies, and advocacy groups to promote research and ensure ethical conduct of research.
View details for Web of Science ID 000236702200018
View details for PubMedID 16603753
-
Perspectives on medical research involving men in schizophrenia and HIV-related protocols
SCHIZOPHRENIA BULLETIN
2006; 32 (2): 360-365
Abstract
Ethical issues in research on serious physical and mental illnesses have received great attention, and yet little is known about how the perspectives of clinical research participants with different diagnoses may compare. We conducted a preliminary study to examine the attitudes of men enrolled in schizophrenia-related protocols and in HIV-related protocols regarding the importance of medical research, key aspects of research participation, and the acceptability of research involvement by various groups. A total of 33 men enrolled in schizophrenia protocols and 15 men enrolled in HIV-related protocols volunteered for our study. Respondents affirmed the importance of medical research and endorsed many positive things about participation. Autonomy and altruism were identified as motivators for research involvement. Participation by diverse groups was seen as acceptable. Respondents expressed comfort and little stress with the interview process. Men in different diagnostic groups largely saw the issues the same. Our findings thus suggest that people with schizophrenia and HIV/AIDS who are enrolled in protocols may share a number of core attitudes or beliefs related to ethical aspects of research participation. Further study is needed to explore how research involvement may influence perspectives and whether differences in views exist across people with diverse physical and mental illnesses.
View details for DOI 10.1093/schbul/sbj015
View details for Web of Science ID 000236106600030
View details for PubMedID 16254063
-
Barriers to healthcare as reported by rural and urban interprofessional providers.
Journal of interprofessional care
2006; 20 (2): 105-118
Abstract
The research literature is replete with reports of barriers to care perceived by rural patients seeking healthcare. Less often reported are barriers perceived by the rural healthcare providers themselves. The current study is an extensive survey of over 1,500 healthcare providers randomly selected from two US states with large rural populations, Alaska and New Mexico. Barriers consistently identified across rural and urban regions by all healthcare professionals were Patient Complexity, Resource Limitations, Service Access, Training Constraints, and Patient Avoidance of Care. Findings confirmed that rural areas, however, struggle more with healthcare barriers than urban and small urban areas, especially as related to Resource Limitations, Confidentiality Limitations, Overlapping Roles, Provider Travel, Service Access, and Training Constraints. Almost consistently, the smaller a provider's practice community, the greater the reports of barriers, with the most severe barriers reported in small rural communities.
View details for PubMedID 16608714
-
Patient requests and provider suggestions for alternative treatments as reported by rural and urban care providers
COMPLEMENTARY THERAPIES IN MEDICINE
2006; 14 (1): 10-19
Abstract
Explored the relationship between different types of care providers' willingness to suggest alternative and complementary treatments (CAM), patients' requests for CAM, and provider perceptions about CAM as barriers to effective healthcare.Large survey.Alaska and New Mexico.Survey responses from 1528 physical and behavioral healthcare providers.Over 97% of providers suggested CAM; over 97% reported patients asked for CAM. Providers were more likely to suggest CAM than perceived CAM as a barrier to care. Healthcare providers who were female, from small rural areas, or specializing in behavioral healthcare were more likely to suggest CAM and less likely to perceive CAM as a barrier. Patients of physical healthcare providers asked for CAM more often than patients of behavioral healthcare providers, yet physical care providers suggested CAM less frequently.Healthcare providers of all disciplines, regions, and gender are sensitive to patients' desire for CAM and do not perceive CAM as a barrier to care.
View details for DOI 10.1016/j.ctim.2005.07.009
View details for Web of Science ID 000239334500003
View details for PubMedID 16473749
-
Advancing our understanding of the ethics of schizophrenia research: The contribution of conceptual analyses and empirical evidence
SCHIZOPHRENIA BULLETIN
2006; 32 (1): 20-21
View details for DOI 10.1093/schbul/scj024
View details for Web of Science ID 000234435700005
View details for PubMedID 16269625
-
Investigators' affirmation of ethical, safeguard, and scientific commitments in human research
ETHICS & BEHAVIOR
2006; 16 (2): 135-150
View details for Web of Science ID 000241237500004
-
Views of people with schizophrenia regarding aspects of research: Study size and funding sources
SCHIZOPHRENIA BULLETIN
2006; 32 (1): 107-115
Abstract
Serious mental illness research poses many ethical questions, including important considerations pertaining to how large a study is and its source of funding. Little is known about how people with schizophrenia understand these ethical considerations and whether these factors may influence their decisions to participate in research. Structured interviews were conducted with 60 people with schizophrenia. Participants were asked about levels of suffering and the importance of research for healthy people and for people with serious illnesses. Participants also rated helpfulness and harmfulness to society, and their likelihood of participating in studies involving 10 subjects, 1000 subjects, 1 research institution, or 10 research institutions and in studies funded by various organizations. Participants viewed all types of research positively and indicated willingness to volunteer. Likelihood of participating in research was correlated with perceived helpfulness to society and inversely correlated with perceived harmfulness. Research by pharmaceutical companies was seen as less helpful to society than research sponsored by federal or state government or by private foundations. Larger studies conducted at multiple sites were seen as more helpful to society than smaller studies or those at single sites. Larger studies conducted at single sites, however, were seen as more harmful. Respondents endorsed a positive view of medical research and expressed a willingness to participate in projects of all scales with diverse funding sources. The pattern of responses suggests the capacity for a nuanced understanding of ethically salient aspects of medical research by individuals with schizophrenia.
View details for DOI 10.1093/schbul/sbj022
View details for Web of Science ID 000234435700016
View details for PubMedID 16254065
-
Do research procedures pose relatively greater risk for healthy persons than for persons with schizophrenia?
SCHIZOPHRENIA BULLETIN
2006; 32 (1): 153-158
Abstract
Federal regulations governing human research suggest that potential harms and discomforts of research be considered in relation to the risks normally encountered in daily life or in routine examinations. No data regarding relative risks of research exist for persons with schizophrenia. We surveyed psychiatrists (N = 68) to assess their perceptions of the risk associated with 12 research procedures in 2 categories, that is, evaluation- and intervention-type procedures. Psychiatrists were asked to rate "risks compared to usual daily risks" for people with schizophrenia and, separately, for healthy people. For healthy research volunteers, psychiatrists rated 2 of 5 evaluation procedures and none of the intervention procedures as posing fewer risks than daily life. One evaluation procedure and 2 intervention procedures were rated as similar to daily risks for healthy research volunteers. For volunteers with schizophrenia, psychiatrists rated 4 of the 5 evaluation procedures and 1 intervention procedure as conferring less risk than everyday life. For 1 of 5 evaluation procedures and 5 of 7 intervention procedures, the risks associated with the procedures were centered close to the benchmark for those faced every day by persons with schizophrenia. Psychiatrists in this study viewed research procedure risks as closer to the daily risks encountered by persons with schizophrenia than by healthy persons. Because federal regulations benchmark research studies as "minimal risk" if they are analogous to the usual risks of everyday life, this finding may have important implications for the evaluation of psychiatric protocols.
View details for DOI 10.1093/schbul/sbi055
View details for Web of Science ID 000234435700022
View details for PubMedID 16166609
-
Emotional intelligence and psychiatric training
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2006; 30 (1): 1-3
View details for Web of Science ID 000235189200001
View details for PubMedID 16473985
-
Emerging empirical evidence on the ethics of schizophrenia research
SCHIZOPHRENIA BULLETIN
2006; 32 (1): 47-68
Abstract
Many challenging ethical questions come with the scientific efforts to understand the nature and treatment of schizophrenia. The empirical study of ethical aspects of schizophrenia research has sought to clarify and resolve many of these questions. In this article we provide an overview of the existing data-based literature on schizophrenia research ethics and outline directions for future inquiry. We examine 5 broad categories of inquiry into the ethics of schizophrenia research: (1) Scientific designs (eg, placebo-controlled studies and medication-free intervals, prodromal and high-risk research, and genetics research); (2) informed consent and decision-making capacity, including assessment of decisional abilities, as well as intervention studies; (3) understanding and perceptions of risk and benefit (including the therapeutic misconception); (4) influences on research participation (including voluntarism, altruism, and other motivations); and (5) key participant safeguards, such as protocol review and participant advocates. We discuss how empirical work in each of these areas answers certain questions and raises new ones. Finally, we highlight important gaps in our understanding of ethically relevant aspects of schizophrenia research and offer a specific research agenda for empirical ethics.
View details for DOI 10.1093/schbul/sbj102
View details for Web of Science ID 000234435700011
View details for PubMedID 16237201
View details for PubMedCentralID PMC2632189
-
Professionalism and the ethics-related roles of academic psychiatrists
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2005; 29 (5): 413-415
View details for Web of Science ID 000234301200001
View details for PubMedID 16387961
-
Coexisting commitments to ethics and human research: A preliminary study of the perspectives of 83 medical students
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BIOETHICS
2005; 5 (6): W1-W7
View details for DOI 10.1080/15265160500320593
View details for Web of Science ID 000233922900029
View details for PubMedID 16282096
-
Teaching medical students to discern ethical problems in human clinical research studies
ACADEMIC MEDICINE
2005; 80 (10): 925-930
Abstract
Investigators and institutional review boards are entrusted with ensuring the conduct of ethically sound human studies. Assessing ethical aspects of research protocols is a key skill in fulfilling this duty, yet no empirically validated method exists for preparing professionals to attain this skill.The authors performed a randomized controlled educational intervention, comparing a criteria-based learning method, a clinical-research- and experience-based learning method, and a control group. All 300 medical students enrolled at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine in 2001 were invited to participate. After a single half-hour educational session, a written posttest of ability to detect ethical problems in hypothetical protocol vignettes was administered. The authors analyzed responses to ten protocol vignettes that had been evaluated independently by experts. For each vignette, a global assessment of the perceived significance of ethical problems and the identification of specific ethical problems were evaluated.Eighty-three medical students (27%) volunteered: 50 (60%) were women and 55 (66%) were first- and second-year students. On global assessments, the criteria-focused group perceived ethical problems as more significant than did the other two groups (p < .02). Students in the criteria-focused group were better able than students in the control group (p < .03) to discern specific ethical problems, more closely resembling expert assessments. Unexpectedly, the group focused on clinical research participants identified fewer problems than did the control group (p < .05).The criteria-focused intervention produced enhanced ethical evaluation skills. This work supports the potential value of empirically derived methods for preparing professionals to discern ethical aspects of human studies.
View details for Web of Science ID 000232174400009
View details for PubMedID 16186612
-
Bioethics principles, informed consent, and ethical care for special populations: Curricular needs expressed by men and women physicicans-in-training
PSYCHOSOMATICS
2005; 46 (5): 440-450
View details for Web of Science ID 000231717600009
-
Bioethics principles, informed consent, and ethical care for special populations: curricular needs expressed by men and women physicians-in-training.
Psychosomatics
2005; 46 (5): 440-450
Abstract
Physicians-in-training today are learning in an ethical environment that is unprecedented in its complexity. There is a call for new approaches in preparing medical students and residents for the ethical and professional issues they will encounter. The perspectives of physicians-in-training at different levels regarding the level of curricular attention needed for emerging bioethics concepts, practical informed consent considerations, and the care of special populations are unknown.The authors performed a hypothesis-driven, confidential survey study to assess perceived needs and preferences among medical students and residents related to medical ethics education at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine.A total of 336 physicians-in-training volunteered (62% response rate). Overall, strong interest was expressed for increased curricular attention to the domains of bioethics principles, informed consent, and care of special populations. Women students expressed greater interest generally. For certain domains, clinical students expressed relatively less curricular need and psychiatry and primary care residents expressed relatively greater curricular need. Two of the four hypotheses were supported, a third received partial support, and a fourth was not supported by the findings.To be valuable and effective, new ethics curricular approaches must be responsive to the current complex ethical environment and attentive to the preferences of medical students and residents of both genders, at different stages of training, with different patient care responsibilities. This hypothesis-driven study provides guidance for the inclusion of novel and important ethics domains in training curricula across medical school and diverse residency programs.
View details for PubMedID 16145189
-
Introduction - The extraordinary in an ordinary day
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2005; 29 (4): 374-374
View details for Web of Science ID 000232225500009
View details for PubMedID 16223901
-
Protecting the safety of medical students and residents
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2005; 29 (4): 329-331
View details for Web of Science ID 000232225500001
View details for PubMedID 16223893
-
Ethical issues in the use of genetic information in the workplace: a review of recent developments
CURRENT OPINION IN PSYCHIATRY
2005; 18 (5): 518-524
Abstract
In the wake of the Human Genome Project, the pace of genetic discovery has quickened. New genetic tests and other molecular technology have had immediate and wide relevance to American and European workers. These tests have the potential to provide improved workplace safety and protect workers' health, but they also carry the risk of genetic discrimination including loss of employment, promotion, insurance and health care. Ethical safeguards are necessary if the benefits are to outweigh the adverse consequences of genetics in the workplace.This review examines the major policy statements issued in Europe and the USA from 2000 to 2005 pertaining to genetic issues in occupational health. Recent findings stress that genetic testing can only be utilized with worker consent and that the workers should control access to genetic information. Such testing is only justified when the information is required to protect the safety of the worker or a third party. The progress of occupational genetic technology should not be permitted to shift the responsibility for a safe working environment from the employer to the employee. Genetic discrimination in all forms is neither supported scientifically nor warranted ethically.Increasingly, occupational physicians and clinicians treating workers will be faced with potentially stigmatizing genetic information and there is an urgent need for education and research to expand and implement the recommendations of major governmental and professional policy statements.
View details for Web of Science ID 000231442200010
View details for PubMedID 16639111
-
Becoming a good doctor: Perceived need for ethics training focused on practical and professional development topics
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2005; 29 (3): 301-309
Abstract
Ethics training has become a core component of medical student and resident education. Curricula have been developed without the benefit of data regarding the views of physicians-in-training on the need for ethics instruction that focuses on practical issues and professional development topics.A written survey was sent to all medical students and PGY1-3 residents at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine. The survey consisted of eight demographic questions and 124 content questions in 10 domains. Responses to a set of 24 items related to ethically important dilemmas, which may occur in the training period and subsequent professional practice, are reported. Items were each rated on a 9-point scale addressing the level of educational attention needed compared to the amount currently provided.Survey respondents included 200 medical students (65% response) and 136 residents (58% response). Trainees, regardless of level of training or clinical discipline, perceived a need for more academic attention directed at practical ethical and professional dilemmas present during training and the practice of medicine. Women expressed a desire for more education directed at both training-based and practice-based ethical dilemmas when compared to men. A simple progression of interest in ethics topics related to level of medical training was not found. Residents in diverse clinical specialties differed in perceived ethics educational needs. Psychiatry residents reported a need for enhanced education directed toward training-stage ethics problems.This study documents the importance placed on ethics education directed at practical real-world dilemmas and ethically important professional developmental issues by physicians-in-training. Academic medicine may be better able to fulfill its responsibilities in teaching ethics and professionalism and in serving its trainees by paying greater attention to these topics in undergraduate and graduate medical curricula.
View details for Web of Science ID 000231596700014
View details for PubMedID 16141129
-
Academic psychiatry: Coming of age
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2005; 29 (3): 237-239
View details for Web of Science ID 000231596700001
View details for PubMedID 16141116
-
Imparting the knowledge, science, and art of psychopharmacology: Thoughts on educational research questions
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2005; 29 (2): 113-115
View details for Web of Science ID 000229541100001
View details for PubMedID 15937254
-
Medical student illness and impairment: a vignette-based survey study involving 955 students at 9 medical schools
COMPREHENSIVE PSYCHIATRY
2005; 46 (3): 229-237
Abstract
Physician impairment is defined by the presence of a physical, mental, or substance-related disorder that interferes with the ability to practice medicine competently and safely. The seeds of impairment may be sown early in adulthood, and medical students experience health issues that may receive insufficient attention in the context of a rigorous training period. Few empirical studies have examined the attitudes of medical students toward recognizing and acting upon signs of potentially impairing illnesses in peers.Medical students at 9 medical schools were invited to participate in a written survey exploring personal health care issues during training. As part of this larger project, students were asked to imagine their response in 3 situations to a medical student who is discovered to have serious symptoms and potential impairment secondary to mental illness, substance abuse, or diabetes.Responses were gathered from 955 students (52% overall response rate). For all of the vignettes, "tell no one but encourage him/her to seek professional help" was the most prevalent reaction (45%, 53%, and 49%, respectively) as opposed to seek advice (37%, 35%, and 42%) and notify the Dean's office (18%, 12%, and 9%). Willingness to report varied by school, and women were somewhat less likely to formally report medical student illness.This study suggests that medical students attach great importance to preserving the confidentiality of fellow medical students who may experience even very severe symptoms. This pattern may have important implications for the early recognition and treatment of potentially impairing disorders. Greater attention to these issues may help assure the health of early career physicians as well as the many patients whose safety and well-being are entrusted to their care.
View details for DOI 10.1016/j.comppsych.2004.08.008
View details for Web of Science ID 000229063900011
View details for PubMedID 16021594
-
Perspectives on use and protection of genetic information in work settings: results of a preliminary study
SOCIAL SCIENCE & MEDICINE
2005; 60 (8): 1855-1858
Abstract
The societal use of genetic information raises ethical concerns, and the views of working persons regarding genetic information have received little attention. We performed an empirical project to characterize perspectives of 63 employees at two sites who expressed strong interest in learning about and protecting their personal genetic information. Genetic data were seen as more sensitive than other health data, and disclosure of genetic susceptibility was perceived as having negative consequences. This study suggests the value of exploring the perspectives of key stakeholders most directly affected by genetic applications across diverse societal settings.
View details for DOI 10.1016/j.socscimed.2004.08.038
View details for Web of Science ID 000227657100018
View details for PubMedID 15686815
-
Financial compensation to adolescents for participation in biomedical research: Adolescent and parent perspectives in seven studies
JOURNAL OF PEDIATRICS
2005; 146 (4): 552-558
Abstract
To examine the impact of financial compensation on pediatric asthma research participation decision-making and determine whether perceptions of fair compensation differed for parents and adolescents, lower and higher income participants, and compensation-informed and uninformed participants in minimal and above minimal risk research.Adolescents (n = 36) with asthma and their parents reviewed 7 pediatric asthma research protocols, decided whether they would choose to participate, and provided estimates of "fair" compensation for their participation. Chi-square, analysis of variance, and analysis of covariance were used to determine the affects of compensation on participation and whether various respondents differed in the perceptions of fair compensation.Financial compensation did not affect participation decisions. Estimates of fair compensation were lower for adolescents, lower income respondents, and participants who were naive about potential compensation. Fair compensation estimates were higher than actual compensation for minimal risk studies and lower for above minimal risk studies.Financial compensation may be a minor consideration in pediatric research participation decision-making. Still, differences in how pediatric researchers and their prospective participants judge fair compensation create the potential for undue influence. Pediatric researchers should use caution when determining a reasonable financial compensation for research participation.
View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jpeds.2004.12.024
View details for Web of Science ID 000228414200024
View details for PubMedID 15812465
-
Getting started in educational research
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2005; 29 (1): 14-18
View details for Web of Science ID 000227355600004
View details for PubMedID 15772398
-
Ethical and regulatory considerations in educational research
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2005; 29 (1): 1-5
View details for Web of Science ID 000227355600001
View details for PubMedID 15772395
-
Ethical challenges of mental health clinicians in rural and frontier areas
PSYCHIATRIC SERVICES
2005; 56 (3): 358-359
View details for Web of Science ID 000227538000027
View details for PubMedID 15746521
-
Emerging findings in ethics of schizophrenia research
CURRENT OPINION IN PSYCHIATRY
2005; 18 (2): 111-119
Abstract
We review recent publications pertaining to six topics: investigators, professional integrity, and sources of potential bias; scientific designs; protocol safeguards; influences on research participation decisions and perceptions of risk; informed consent--decision-making capacity, appreciation and the therapeutic misconception, and voluntarism; and informed consent--intervention studies.Little empirical work has been conducted on investigator training and potential conflicts of interest. Numerous conceptual pieces have tackled controversial issues related to study designs, with the initial focal point being the ethics of placebo-controlled studies; only a handful of reports, however, have empirically addressed these topics. Emerging findings pertinent to protocol safeguards in schizophrenia research suggest general support by individuals with schizophrenia for a variety of safeguards. Recent work on influences on participation decisions suggests that people with schizophrenia use fundamentally similar considerations as medically ill people and healthy comparison participants--a combination of personal and altruistic motives. Much of the data-based literature has focused on informed consent. We highlight studies indicating that patients living with schizophrenia show heterogeneity in consent-related abilities but may possess key strengths in the research situation, not simply greater vulnerability as suggested in the historical literature. Furthermore, consent-related abilities appear to be enhanced with educational interventions.Empirical studies focusing on a variety of ethically relevant domains in schizophrenia research are needed. Future studies should incorporate quantitative and qualitative methods, integrate perspectives of stakeholders, and investigate the effects and appropriateness of current protocol safeguards.
View details for Web of Science ID 000229498800002
View details for PubMedID 16639163
-
Ethical considerations in rural health care: A pilot study of clinicians in Alaska and New Mexico
COMMUNITY MENTAL HEALTH JOURNAL
2005; 41 (1): 21-33
Abstract
To investigate differences in the experiences of rural versus non-rural clinicians, we surveyed caregivers in New Mexico and Alaska regarding ethical aspects of care provision. Consistent with past literature, rural compared to non-rural clinicians perceived patients as having less access to health care resources. They reported more interaction with patients and less awkwardness in relationships with their patients outside of work. Rural clinicians also reported their patients expressed more concern about knowing them in both personal and professional roles, had more concerns over confidentiality, and experienced more embarrassment concerning stigmatizing illnesses. Ethical issues and implications of these results for providing care in rural areas are discussed.
View details for DOI 10.1007/s10597-005-2597-1
View details for Web of Science ID 000228674000003
View details for PubMedID 15934173
View details for PubMedCentralID PMC1599854
-
Employees' perspectives on ethically important aspects of genetic research participation: a pilot study
COMPREHENSIVE PSYCHIATRY
2005; 46 (1): 27-33
Abstract
Insights from genetic research may greatly improve our understanding of physical and mental illnesses and assist in the prevention of disease. Early experience with genetic information suggests that it may lead to stigma, discrimination, and other psychosocial harms, however, and this may be particularly salient in some settings, such as the workplace. Despite the importance of these issues, little is known about how healthy adults, including workers, perceive and understand ethically important issues in genetic research pertaining to physical and mental illness.We developed, pilot tested, and administered a written survey and structured interview to 63 healthy working adults in 2 settings. For this paper, we analyzed a subset of items that assessed attitudes toward ethically relevant issues related to participation in genetic research on physical and mental illness, such as its perceived importance, its acceptability for various populations, and appropriate motivations for participation.Our respondents strongly endorsed the importance of physical and mental illness genetic research. They viewed participation as somewhat to very acceptable for all 12 special population groups we asked about, including persons with mental illness. They perceived more positives than negatives in genetic research participation, giving neutral responses regarding potential risks. They affirmed many motivations for participation to varying degrees. Men tended to affirm genetic research participation importance, acceptability, and motivations more strongly than women.Healthy working persons may be willing partners in genetic research related to physical and mental illnesses in coming years. This project suggests the feasibility and value of evidence-based ethics inquiry, although further study is necessary. Evidence regarding stakeholders' perspectives on ethically important issues in science may help in the development of research practices and policy.
View details for DOI 10.1016/j.comppsych.2004.07.02
View details for Web of Science ID 000226269100005
View details for PubMedID 15714191
-
Influence of ethical safeguards on research participation: Comparison of perspectives of people with schizophrenia and psychiatrists
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRY
2004; 161 (12): 2309-2311
Abstract
Several safeguards have been developed to protect research volunteers, but little is known about how the people involved in this research-the stakeholders-view these efforts to assure participant rights and well-being. The authors' goal was to examine these perspectives.As part of a larger study, 60 people with schizophrenia and 69 psychiatrists rated the protectiveness and influence on patients' willingness to participate in research of five safeguards: informed consent, alternative decision makers, institutional review boards, data safety monitoring boards, and confidentiality measures.All safeguards were perceived by both the participants with schizophrenia and by the psychiatrists as protective: on a scale of 1-5 on which 1=not protective at all and 5=very much protects, the mean scores ranged from 3.54 to 4.07. Four of the five safeguards were perceived by both the people with schizophrenia and by the psychiatrists as positively influencing patients' participation decisions. On a scale of 1-5 on which 1=much less willing and 5=much more willing to participate, the mean scores for these four safeguards ranged from 3.86 to 4.30. The mean score for the safeguard of an alternative decision maker, however, was 3.09. The ratings of protectiveness made by both the people with schizophrenia and the psychiatrists were correlated with their ratings of patients' willingness to participate in studies.Ethical commitment to research volunteers is expressed in safeguards. These efforts appear to be viewed positively by key stakeholders and may influence research participation decision making.
View details for Web of Science ID 000225503500025
View details for PubMedID 15569905
-
The positive role of professionalism and ethics training in medical education: A comparison of medical student and resident perspectives
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2004; 28 (3): 170-182
Abstract
To assess the perspectives and preferences of medical students and residents regarding professionalism and ethics education.A new written survey with 124 items (scale: "strongly disagree" = 1, "strongly agree" = 9) was sent to all medical students (n=308) and PGY 1-3 residents (n=233) at one academic center.Of the 336 participants (200 students, 65% response; 136 residents 58% response), only 18% found current professionalism and ethics preparation sufficient. Respondents endorsed professionalism (means=7.48 to 8.11) and ethics topics (means=6.56 to 6.87), women more so than men (p<0.05). Respondents preferred clinically- and expert-oriented learning over formal, nontraditional, or independent approaches (p<0.0001). They preferred clinically-oriented assessment methods (p<0.0001), residents more so than medical students (p<0.0001). On several items, psychiatry residents expressed greater receptiveness to professionalism and ethics preparation.Medical students and residents indicate support for professionalism and ethics educational initiatives, including diverse curricular topics and clinically-attuned assessments.
View details for Web of Science ID 000224564700004
View details for PubMedID 15507551
-
Competency-based training: Where will it lead us?
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2004; 28 (3): 161-163
View details for Web of Science ID 000224564700001
View details for PubMedID 15507548
-
How to review a manuscript: A "Down-to-Earth" approach
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2004; 28 (2): 81-87
View details for Web of Science ID 000223120100001
View details for PubMedID 15298858
-
Ethical use of long-acting medications in the treatment of severe and persistent mental illnesses
COMPREHENSIVE PSYCHIATRY
2004; 45 (3): 161-167
Abstract
volunteerism Mental illnesses are prevalent, cause great suffering, and are burdensome to society. Traditional "depot" antipsychotic agents are used to treat the most severely and persistently mentally ill individuals. They will soon be joined by new atypical antipsychotic medications in long-acting formulations. These long-acting medications pose special ethical issues, but may greatly benefit some people who suffer from severe and persistent mental illnesses. The objective of the current report is to highlight ethical considerations related to the use of long-acting antipsychotic medications. An analysis centering on the ethical concepts of voluntarism, beneficence, and justice is performed, integrating relevant empirical evidence and bioethics principles. Two main conceptual issues related to constraints upon voluntarism and coercion exist. Careful examination of ethically important empirical evidence suggests that voluntarism may not be perceived as an issue for some persons receiving depot antipsychotic medications. A favorable balance of benefits and risks has been documented for some individuals with severe and persistent mental illnesses. Access to care, innovative treatments, and long-acting antipsychotic medications may arise as an issue of justice and nondiscrimination in the care of mental illness. Considerations of justice indicate that long-acting medications may need to be used more frequently and earlier in the course of severe and persistent mental illness for select patients. We conclude that great care should be given to ethically important issues surrounding voluntarism, beneficent care, and equitable access to innovative psychiatric treatments, especially for persons who carry the burden of stigma as well as severe and persistent mental illness.
View details for DOI 10.1016/j.comppsych.2004.02.003
View details for Web of Science ID 000221416800001
View details for PubMedID 15124145
-
Schizophrenia research participants' responses to protocol safeguards: recruitment, consent, and debriefing
SCHIZOPHRENIA RESEARCH
2004; 67 (2-3): 283-291
Abstract
To examine the perspectives and preferences regarding ethically important aspects of recruitment, consent, and debriefing of people with schizophrenia who volunteered for research protocols.A structured interview to assess research-related views of people with schizophrenia was developed and piloted. Data collection occurred at three sites. For this analysis, we examined the subset of responses from schizophrenia patients currently enrolled in a protocol.Data from 28 schizophrenia research volunteers were analyzed. Of these, 22 were men and 11 were voluntary inpatients. Most (n=23) recalled speaking with someone before enrolling in the protocol, and most (n=26) reported trusting the person who told them about it. Participants reported a moderate understanding of their protocols. All but one person (n=27) remembered signing a consent form. Twenty-one volunteers indicated that consent forms are meant to help both the patient and the researcher. Most (n=23) reported making the enrollment decision alone, with 22 making this decision prior to reviewing the consent form. The decision was described as relatively easy. Respondents felt some pressure to enroll, with women experiencing more pressure. Debriefing practices were strongly endorsed by participants. All 28 of the volunteers wished to be informed if a health problem (i.e., "something wrong") was discovered during the protocol.The persons living with schizophrenia who were interviewed for this project expressed interesting perspectives and preferences regarding ethically important aspects of recruitment, consent, and debriefing in clinical research that may help guide efforts to make research processes more attuned to participants and merit further inquiry.
View details for DOI 10.1016/S0920-9964(03)00101-4
View details for Web of Science ID 000220007500020
View details for PubMedID 14984889
-
Scientific integrity, fidelity and conflicts of interest in research.
Current opinion in psychiatry
2004; 17: 381-385
View details for PubMedID 15871162
-
Committing to the scientific basis of psychiatry: Implications for training and educational research
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2004; 28 (4): 261-262
View details for Web of Science ID 000226175400001
View details for PubMedID 15673818
-
Schizophrenia patients' and psychiatrists' perspectives on ethical aspects of symptom re-emergence during psychopharmacological research participation
PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY
2003; 171 (1): 58-67
Abstract
Study designs involving medication-free intervals have become the subject of controversy in the current dialogue on the ethics of serious mental-illness research.Schizophrenia patients ( n=59; response rate 75%; 48% inpatients) and psychiatrists ( n=70; response rate 83%) responded to ten questions about a hypothetical scenario in which a schizophrenia study participant experienced the re-emergence of serious symptoms during the "wash-out" phase of a psychopharmacological trial. Patients provided their personal views, and psychiatrists gave their personal views and made predictions as to how schizophrenia patients in general would respond.Schizophrenia patients and psychiatrists judged the hypothetical protocol as moderately harmful. Both expressed relatively low likelihood of willingness to participate in the study, given this potential outcome. Schizophrenia patients and psychiatrists found the decision fairly easy. Psychiatrists underestimated the level of harm and overestimated the difficulty of the decision as perceived by schizophrenia patients. Schizophrenia patients acknowledged that the offer of money and request by their doctor or family would increase the likelihood of their participation, and psychiatrists accurately predicted these responses. In hypothetical decisions about the symptomatic study participant, 38% of patients and 39% of psychiatrists said they would allow him to leave the hospital. A majority of both groups (63% and 52%, respectively) indicated that medication should be given despite the study participant's objection. Psychiatrists incorrectly predicted this response, expecting instead that most schizophrenia patients would support the discharge request and few would support involuntary administration of medication. Patients and psychiatrists offered similar reasons for participation decisions but differed in their strategies for handling the situation.These findings suggest potential strengths of decisionally capable schizophrenia patients in assessing ethically important design elements of psychopharmacological trials. Implications for informed consent for research, expectations of the therapeutic obligations of clinical investigators, and the role of psychiatric advance directives in psychopharmacological research are outlined.
View details for DOI 10.1007/s00213-002-1160-9
View details for Web of Science ID 000186978900009
View details for PubMedID 12756518
-
A time of promise, a time of promises: ethical issues in advancing psychopharmacological research
PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY
2003; 171 (1): 1-5
View details for DOI 10.1007/s00213-003-1704-7
View details for Web of Science ID 000186978900001
View details for PubMedID 14615879
-
Conducting empirical research on informed consent: challenges and questions.
IRB
2003: S4-S10
View details for PubMedID 14870730
-
Ethical considerations in caring for women with substance use disorders
OBSTETRICS AND GYNECOLOGY CLINICS OF NORTH AMERICA
2003; 30 (3): 559-?
Abstract
People living with addiction endure many hardships, and this may be especially true for women who face distinct clinical and significant psychologic and socioeconomic repercussions of addictive disorders and their companion stresses. Clinicians who work with women with addictions are confronted by many challenges, particularly in the care of pregnant and parenting women. The dilemmas faced by patients with addictions and their providers often arise directly from tensions among core ethical principles, from inconsistencies in the way these principles are applied, and from the pervasive effects of stigma. Although difficult issues are to be expected in the arena of substance abuse treatment, consideration of principles of voluntarism, beneficence, respect for persons and justice, confidentiality and truth-telling, and informed consent are invaluable in shaping clinical ethical decision making. Furthermore, proactive steps can be taken to enhance the ethical caliber of care. These steps involve policy-level and systemic actions, such as the development and expansion of programs serving women's unique needs, empiric research into the most effective treatments for women with various disorders, and reexamination of legal and societal stances toward pregnant and parenting women who have addictions. In addition, local and individual steps are needed, including addressing gaps or inherent biases in programs, training counselors and clinicians in effective strategies or counseling styles, and developing awareness of one's own attitudes when dealing with difficult patients and challenging disorders. Such efforts will help ensure that women who have addictions will be cared for in a manner that is respectful, beneficent, compassionate, honest, and just.
View details for DOI 10.1016/S0889-8545(03)00071-8
View details for Web of Science ID 000186719500009
View details for PubMedID 14664327
-
Empirical research on informed consent with the cognitively impaired.
IRB
2003: S26-S32
View details for PubMedID 14870736
-
Do psychiatrists understand research-related experiences, attitudes, and motivations of schizophrenia study participants?
COMPREHENSIVE PSYCHIATRY
2003; 44 (3): 227-233
Abstract
Psychiatrists serve in different but important capacities with research participants. Because ethical problems may arise in research when participants misunderstand motives and responsibilities of clinical-investigators (i.e., "therapeutic misconception"), it is important that relationships between research participants and psychiatric caregivers and investigators be based on genuine mutual understanding. Considerations about attunement of psychiatrists with schizophrenia research participants have never been studied empirically. As part of a larger structured interview-survey study, we assessed the predictions of psychiatrists regarding self-reported experiences, attitudes, and motivations of individual schizophrenia research volunteers who were known to the respondent psychiatrists. Fourteen patient-psychiatrist pairs were identified for inclusion. Psychiatrists predicted schizophrenia research participants' ease of participation, privacy concerns, and willingness to participate in future research but underestimated their positive overall experience. Psychiatrists also were attuned to schizophrenia participants' attitudes and motivations regarding personal benefit but did not accurately predict their responses concerning helping others and science. Also, psychiatrists underestimated the schizophrenia participants' perceived degree of influence by researchers and caregivers during recruitment. Psychiatrists recognized the burden, primary concerns, future participation willingness, and personal benefit orientation of schizophrenia participants, but they did not appear to fully understand the overall positive quality of research experience, altruistic orientation, and relationship orientation of their schizophrenia patients who volunteer for research participation.
View details for DOI 10.1053/comp.2003.50022
View details for Web of Science ID 000183017000009
View details for PubMedID 12764711
-
Evaluating medical students' skills in obtaining informed consent for HIV testing
JOURNAL OF GENERAL INTERNAL MEDICINE
2003; 18 (2): 112-119
Abstract
To evaluate fourth-year medical students' abilities to obtain informed consent or refusal for HIV testing through a performance-based evaluation method.Student competence was assessed in a standardized patient interaction in which the student obtained informed consent or refusal for HIV testing. A previously validated 16-item checklist was completed by the standardized patient. A subset was independently reviewed and scored by a faculty member to calculate interrater reliability for this report. Student feedback on the assessment was elicited.School of Medicine at the University of New Mexico.All senior medical students in the class of 2000 were included.A 10-minute standardized patient interaction was administered within the context of a formal comprehensive performance assessment.Seventy-nine students participated, and most (96%) demonstrated competence on the station. For the 15 specific items, the mean score was 25.5 out of 30 possible points (range, 13 to 30; SD, 3.5) on the checklist. A strong positive correlation (rs =.79) was found between the total score on the 15 Likert-scaled items and the score in response to the global item, "I would return to this clinician" (mean, 3.5; SD, 1.0). Scores given by the standardized patients and the faculty rater were well correlated. The station was generally well received by students, many of whom were stimulated to pursue further learning.This method of assessing medical students' abilities to obtain informed consent or refusal for HIV testing can be translated to a variety of clinical settings. Such efforts may help in demonstrating competence in performing key ethics skills and may help ensure ethically sound clinical care for people at risk for HIV infection.
View details for Web of Science ID 000180605100005
View details for PubMedID 12542585
-
Evidence, methods, and psychiatric education
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2003; 27 (4): 227-228
View details for Web of Science ID 000188967500002
View details for PubMedID 14754842
-
What is ethically important in clinical research? A preliminary study of attitudes of 73 psychiatric faculty and residents
SCHIZOPHRENIA BULLETIN
2003; 29 (3): 607-613
Abstract
The ethical caliber of psychiatric research ultimately rests upon the shoulders of psychiatric clinicians and investigators who perform protocols and are directly responsible for the welfare of study volunteers. Little is known, however, about ethically relevant attitudes of psychiatrists toward human research. Working as part of a larger study, we surveyed all psychiatry faculty and residents at one institution in 1999 regarding the relative importance of 12 elements in the ethical conduct of human research. Responses of 73 participants were analyzed, and three factors emerged: Safeguards and Scientific Merit, Investigator Integrity and Relationship, and Patient Benefit. Safeguards and Scientific Merit, as a set, were the most salient considerations for both psychiatry faculty and residents. We found that residents placed greater importance on all factors and nearly every element than did faculty. Future research is needed to clarify the understanding of the perspectives and priorities of different stakeholders involved in human studies.
View details for Web of Science ID 000186523700018
View details for PubMedID 14609253
-
Influences upon willingness to participate in schizophrenia research: An analysis of narrative data from 63 people with schizophrenia
ETHICS & BEHAVIOR
2003; 13 (3): 279-302
Abstract
Schizophrenia affects more than 1% of the world's population, causing great personal suffering and socioeconomic burden. These costs associated with schizophrenia necessitate inquiry into the causes and treatment of the illness but generate ethical challenges related to the specific nature and deficits of the illness itself. In this article, we present a systematic analysis of narrative data from 63 people living with the illness of schizophrenia collected through semistructured interviews about their attitudes, beliefs, and experiences related to psychiatric research. In the comments of these individuals, half of whom had had prior personal experience in research protocols, we identified factors influencing openness toward research involvement as well as deterrents that appear to lessen interest in participation. Clear response pattern differences emerged between those with prior research experience and those without such experience. In the discussion, we explore the key findings and outline the implications for safeguards in mental illness research.
View details for Web of Science ID 000186535200006
View details for PubMedID 14680009
-
Ethics in psychiatric practice: essential ethics skills, informed consent, the therapeutic relationship, and confidentiality.
Journal of psychiatric practice
2002; 8 (5): 290-305
Abstract
Psychiatrists routinely encounter ethical complexities in caring for patients with mental illness, and they are held to the highest levels of accountability in their ethical practices. In this article, the authors first outline skills that are essential to ethical psychiatric practice. They then articulate three domains of clinical and ethical practice that represent the foundation of clinical care for people with mental illness: informed consent, the therapeutic relationship, and confidentiality. Key concepts concerning these domains are presented and relevant empirical evidence concerning each domain is reviewed. An understanding of these clinical and ethical practices will help psychiatrists serve patients with mental illness in their everyday clinical activities in a manner that is respectful, engenders trust, and ultimately fosters optimal clinical care.
View details for PubMedID 15985891
-
Ethics and mental illness research
PSYCHIATRIC CLINICS OF NORTH AMERICA
2002; 25 (3): 525-?
Abstract
There are many tasks ahead in the area of ethics and mental illness research. We face unknown challenges in psychiatric genetics projects, studies of psychopharmacological interventions in children, controversial scientific designs (e.g., symptom challenge, medication-free interval), and cross-disciplinary research incorporating goals and methods of health services, epidemiology, and social and behavioral science endeavors. Boundaries between innovative clinical practices and research-related experimentation will become increasingly difficult to distinguish, as will the roles between clinicians, clinical researchers, and basic scientists. Moreover, the institutions and systems in which research occurs are being rapidly and radically revised, raising new questions about oversight responsibilities and standards. Our ability to identify and respond to the ethical questions arising in this uncharted territory will depend on our willingness to self-reflect, to integrate the observations and insights of the past century, to think with great clarity, and to anticipate novel ethical problems that keep company with scientific advancements. It will also depend on data. Empirical study of ethical dimensions of human research is essential to anchor and attune the intuitions and theoretical constructs that we develop. Science and ethics have changed over the past 100 years, as they will over the next century. It is ironic that the ethical acceptability of psychiatric research is so much in question at this time, when it holds so much promise for advancing our understanding of mental illness and its treatment. The tension between the duty to protect vulnerable individuals and the duty to perform human science will continue to grow, as long as ethics and science are seen as separable, opposing forces with different aims championed by different heroes. The profession of psychiatry is poised to move toward a new, more coherent research ethics paradigm in which scientific and ethical issues are recognized as inextricably linked: science as a human activity carries complex ethical meanings and responsibilities, and ethics itself is subject to scrutiny and amenable to scientific inquiry. Building a broader, more versatile, and more effective repertoire of safeguards will be increasingly important, and safeguards, in this view, represent a modest price for the privilege of studying serious illnesses--diseases that cause grave suffering and yet are a source of both vulnerability and strength. In this paradigm, attention to ethics safeguards is no longer understood as a barrier to scientific advancement, but rather as the means by which psychiatric research may be conducted with broad societal support, honorably and, ultimately, with the expectation of bringing benefit to millions of people with mental illness.
View details for Web of Science ID 000177776400003
View details for PubMedID 12232968
-
Informed consent and the capacity for voluntarism
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRY
2002; 159 (5): 705-712
Abstract
Informed consent is built upon the elements of information, decisional capacity, and volunteerism. Of these elements, voluntarism in clinical and research consent is the least well understood. This has interfered with the ability to resolve key ethical problems faced by the field of psychiatry.The author suggests that voluntarism encompasses an individual's ability to act in accordance with one's authentic sense of what is good, right, and best in light of one's situation, values, and prior history. Voluntarism further entails the capacity to make this choice freely and in the absence of coercion. Deliberateness, purposefulness of intent, clarity, genuineness, and coherence with prior life decisions are implicitly emphasized in this construction.The author offers and illustrates a framework for voluntarism in clinical and research consent decisions, focusing on four domains of potential influence: 1) developmental factors, 2) illness-related considerations, 3) psychological issues and cultural and religious values, and 4) external features and pressures.It is hoped that improved understanding of voluntarism will help in our efforts to fulfill the principle of respect for persons in clinical care and research.
View details for Web of Science ID 000175367400003
View details for PubMedID 11986120
-
Patient and psychiatrist ratings of hypothetical schizophrenia research protocols: Assessment of harm potential and factors influencing participation decisions
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRY
2002; 159 (4): 573-584
Abstract
A central ethical issue in schizophrenia research is whether participants are able to provide informed consent, particularly for protocols entailing medication washouts or placebo treatments. Few data show how patients with schizophrenia and psychiatrists assess such scientific designs regarding potential harm, willingness to participate, and the relative influence of clinicians, family members, and financial incentives upon participation decisions.In this preliminary study, structured interviews were conducted with schizophrenia patients (N=59), and parallel surveys were completed by attending and resident psychiatrists (N=70). Four hypothetical research protocols were rated. Patients were asked about their own views; psychiatrists provided both their personal views and predictions of patient views.Patients and psychiatrists both perceived substantially different levels of harm across the four protocols, identifying significantly greater harm for medication washouts or placebo treatments. Participants were less willing to enroll in protocols perceived as more harmful. Schizophrenia patients found enrollment decisions relatively easy. Patients and psychiatrists indicated that doctor recommendations, monetary incentives, and, to a lesser extent, family preferences had a mild influence on participation decisions.Given hypothetical protocols with variable design elements, schizophrenia patients and psychiatrists made meaningful and discerning harm assessments and participation decisions. These findings suggest that schizophrenia patients may have strengths in the research consent process that may not be fully recognized. The impact of outside influences upon research enrollment decisions remains uncertain. While psychiatrists were often accurate in predicting patient responses, data suggest the importance of clarifying views of individual patients regarding specific protocols.
View details for Web of Science ID 000174800000011
View details for PubMedID 11925295
-
Addiction and consent.
American journal of bioethics
2002; 2 (2): 58-60
View details for PubMedID 12189082
-
National depressive and manic-depressive association consensus statement on the use of placebo in clinical trials of mood disorders
ARCHIVES OF GENERAL PSYCHIATRY
2002; 59 (3): 262-270
Abstract
A consensus conference on the use of placebo in mood disorder studies consisted of expert presentations on bioethics, biostatistics, unipolar depression, and bipolar disorder. Work groups considered evidence and presented statements to the group. Although it was not possible to write a document for which there was complete agreement on all issues, the final document incorporated input from all authors. There was consensus that placebo has a definite role in mood disorder studies. Findings of equivalence between a new drug and standard treatment in active control studies is not evidence of efficacy unless the new drug is also significantly more effective than placebo. Add-on studies in which patients are randomized to standard therapy plus the investigational drug or standard therapy plus placebo are especially indicated for high-risk patients. Mood disorders in elderly and pediatric patients are understudied, and properly designed trials are urgently needed. Research is needed on the ethical conduct of studies to limit risks of medication-free intervals and facilitate poststudy treatment. Patients must fully understand the risks and lack of individualized treatment involved in research.
View details for Web of Science ID 000174300800007
View details for PubMedID 11879164
-
Your Journal, Our Journal.
Academic psychiatry : the journal of the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training and the Association for Academic Psychiatry
2002; 26 (1): 1-3
View details for PubMedID 11867421
-
On the centrality of peer review
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
2002; 26 (4): 221-222
View details for Web of Science ID 000179402800001
View details for PubMedID 12824124
-
An invitation for medical educators to focus on ethical and policy issues in research and scholarly practice
ACADEMIC MEDICINE
2001; 76 (9): 876-885
Abstract
Medical education research and medical education practice both involve being methodical, innovative, self-observing, forward-looking, and open to peer review, and both are scholarly activities. For these reasons, distinguishing between these two activities is often difficult. There are three important reasons to clarify the distinctions: the moral difference between education research and education practice; federal regulations governing education research that require more safeguards than often exist in education practice; and the fact that student participants in research have characteristics in common with members of special populations. The authors explain why attention to issues of safeguards in education research and practice is likely to grow at academic health centers, yet maintain that these issues are neglected in the medical education literature. They demonstrate this with findings from their review of 424 education research reports published in 1988 and 1989 and in 1998 and 1999 in two major medical education journals. Each article was evaluated for documentation of six ethically important safeguards and features (e.g., informed consent). The rates of reporting the six features and safeguards were relatively low (3-27%). Nearly half (47%) of the empirical reports offered no indication of ethically important safeguards or features, and no article mentioned all six. Furthermore, those rates did not increase substantially after ten years. The authors discuss a number of implications of their findings for faculty, training institutions, students, and editors and peer reviewers, and conclude with the hope that their findings will raise awareness of these neglected issues in medical education and will stimulate all those involved to reflect upon the issues and set standards on the ethical aspects of research and scholarly practice.
View details for Web of Science ID 000170972300006
View details for PubMedID 11553501
-
A framework for considering the ethical aspects of psychiatric research protocols
COMPREHENSIVE PSYCHIATRY
2001; 42 (5): 351-363
Abstract
The ethics of psychiatric research has emerged as a topic of national importance. Attention to this topic has been stimulated by a number of factors, including heightened awareness of the distinct moral problems arising in the care of mental illness, the rapid development of new psychopharmaceutical agents, the emergence of evidence-based approaches in psychiatry, the expansion of clinical trials within the private mental health sector, and recent recommendations offered by the President's National Bioethics Advisory Commission (NBAC). Consequently, clinical practitioners and investigators alike will increasingly be called upon to evaluate the ethical acceptability of psychiatric research protocols encountered in their professional work. In light of this, we present a framework for considering ethical aspects of psychiatric research protocols. This framework gives emphasis to nine elements: (1) scientific issues; (2) research team issues; (3) risk and benefit in protocol design; (4) confidentiality; (5) selection, exclusion, and recruitment considerations; (6) informed consent and decisional capacity; (7) incentives; (8) institutional and peer/professional review issues; and (9) data presentation issues. Case illustrations are provided. It is hoped that enhanced knowledge of the considerations presented in this framework will ultimately improve our ability to help people with mental illness.
View details for DOI 10.1053/comp.2001.26269
View details for Web of Science ID 000170974900001
View details for PubMedID 11559861
-
Uncertainty and opposition of medical students toward assisted death practices
JOURNAL OF PAIN AND SYMPTOM MANAGEMENT
2001; 22 (2): 657-667
Abstract
To explore medical students' views of assisted death practices in patient cases that describe different degrees and types of physical and mental suffering, an anonymous survey was administered to all students at one medical school. Respondents were asked about the acceptability of assisted death activities in five patient vignettes and withdrawal of life support in a sixth vignette. In the vignettes, actions were performed by four possible agents: the medical student personally; a referral physician; physicians in general; or non-physicians. Of 306 medical students, 166 (54%) participated. Respondents expressed opposition or uncertainty about assisted death practices in the five patient cases that illustrated severe forms of suffering which were secondary to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, treatment-resistant depressive and somatoform disorders, antisocial and sexually violent behavior, or AIDS. Students supported the withdrawal of life support in the sixth vignette depicting exceptional futility secondary to AIDS. Students were especially opposed to their own involvement and to the participation of non-physicians in assisted death activities. Differences in views related to sex, religious beliefs, and personal philosophy were found. Medical students do not embrace assisted death practices, although they exhibit tolerance regarding the choices of medical colleagues. How these attributes of medical students will translate into future behaviors toward patients and peers remains uncertain. Medical educators must strive to understand the perspectives of physicians-in-training. Expanded, empirically informed education that is attuned to the attitudes of medical students may be helpful in fulfilling the responsibility of imparting optimal clinical care skills.
View details for Web of Science ID 000170272500008
View details for PubMedID 11495712
-
Placebos and paradoxes in psychiatric research: An ethics perspective
BIOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY
2001; 49 (11): 887-893
Abstract
The use of placebos in clinical trials, particularly in research with mentally ill people, has emerged as a subject of considerable controversy. We first outline ethical aspects of the primary scientific arguments for and against placebo use in research. Three examples of paradoxical aspects of the ethical use of placebos are discussed: involvement of relatively more vulnerable populations, use of apparently "less than standard" therapy, and the omission of information in placebo comparisons. In the current scientific and regulatory context, placebo use in psychiatric research may be necessary for scientific reasons, and when certain conditions are present, it may be justified on ethical grounds. Four key recommendations to facilitate the ethical use of placebos in research trials are presented. We conclude that placebo trials should be undertaken only after careful evaluation of alternative scientific strategies and, as with all human research, with great respect and genuine consideration for the individuals who choose to participate in these protocols.
View details for Web of Science ID 000168883800001
View details for PubMedID 11377406
-
Clinical ethics revisited: responses.
BMC medical ethics
2001; 2: E2-?
View details for PubMedID 11346457
View details for PubMedCentralID PMC32194
-
Perceptions of academic vulnerability associated with personal illness: A study of 1,027 students at nine medical schools
COMPREHENSIVE PSYCHIATRY
2001; 42 (1): 1-15
Abstract
About one quarter of the more than 69,000 medical students in this country suffer symptoms of mental illness, including 7% to 18% with substance use disorders. Subjective distress and physical health needs of medical students are also common and have been linked to training stresses. This first large-scale study of medical student health care examined students' physical and mental health concerns and their perceptions of academic vulnerability associated with personal illness. A 7-page, confidential written survey was given to 1,964 students at nine US medical schools in 1996 and 1997. A total of 1,027 students participated (52% response rate). Nearly all (90%) reported needing care for various health concerns, including 47% having at least one mental health or substance-related health issue. A majority of students expressed a preference for health care outside their training institution, largely due to confidentiality concerns, and 90% preferred health insurance allowing off-site care. Students expressed varying levels of concern about academic jeopardy in association with personal illness, with physical health problems such as arthritis causing the least concern and alcohol and drug abuse triggering the most concern. Consistent differences were detected in these views based on respondent's gender, training level, and institution. Most medical students perceive the need for personal health care. Nevertheless, fear of academic reprisal may prevent medical students from seeking necessary care for their health problems during training. This phenomenon may be linked in important but poorly recognized ways to emerging illness and to impairment among medical students and physicians. Women, minority, and clinical students appear more sensitive to the connection between health and academic vulnerability. Constructive implications for medical school curricula, policies, and health care services are discussed.
View details for Web of Science ID 000166436200001
View details for PubMedID 11154710
-
Perceptions of the ethical acceptability of using medical examiner autopsies for research and education - A survey of forensic pathologists
ARCHIVES OF PATHOLOGY & LABORATORY MEDICINE
2000; 124 (10): 1485-1495
Abstract
Forensic pathologists face difficult moral questions in their practices each day. Consistent ethical and legal guidelines for autopsy tissue use extending beyond usual clinical and legal imperatives have not been developed in this country.To obtain the perceptions of medical examiners regarding the ethical acceptability of autopsy tissue use for research and education.A written, self-report questionnaire was developed and piloted by a multidisciplinary team at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque. All individuals who attended a platform presentation at the National Association of Medical Examiners Annual Meeting in September 1997 were invited to participate.Ninety-one individuals completed the survey (40% of all conference registrants and approximately 75% of presentation attendees). Sixty-three percent of respondents had encountered an ethical dilemma surrounding autopsy tissue use, and one third reported some professional ethics experience. Perspectives varied greatly concerning the ethical acceptability of using autopsy tissues to demonstrate or practice techniques (eg, intubation, brachial plexus dissection) and of fulfilling requests to supply varying kinds and quantities of tissues for research and education. Most respondents indicated that consent by family members was important in tissue use decisions. Respondents agreed on the importance of basic values in education and research, such as integrity, scientific or educational merit, and formal institutional approval of a project. Characteristics of the decedent did not influence decisions to release tissues, except when the individual had died from a mysterious or very rare illness. Attributes of medical examiners, with the exception of sex, also did not consistently predict responses.Significant diversity exists in beliefs among medical examiners regarding perceptions of the appropriate use of autopsy tissues for education and research. There is need for further inquiry and dialogue so that enduring policy solutions regarding human tissue use for education and research may be developed.
View details for Web of Science ID 000089884300018
View details for PubMedID 11035581
-
Medical students' evolving perspectives on their personal health care: Clinical and educational implications of a longitudinal study
COMPREHENSIVE PSYCHIATRY
2000; 41 (4): 303-314
Abstract
The mental and physical health care issues of medical students are increasingly recognized as both prevalent and complex. Emotional distress, symptoms of mental illness, and maladaptive substance use are widespread and may often be driven by training-related stressors. The data suggest that nearly all medical students identify physical health concerns as well. The care of medical students as patients is complex because of problems associated with the stigma of various illnesses and the dual role of trainee and patient in medical school. A written confidential survey assessed students longitudinally near the end of their first and third years of training regarding their perceived health care needs, health concerns, attitudes toward care, access to services, and care-seeking practices (161 items). A subset of students (n = 33) were reassessed 1 month after the second survey to measure reliability. McNemar's chi-square (chi2) tests, repeated-measures multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), and K and Pearson correlations were used to evaluate outcomes. Almost all students reported health care needs during both training phases, and their mental and physical health concerns were stable over time. However, the preference for obtaining health care at a site other than their training institution and concerns about confidentiality increased, although students were marginally more likely to obtain care at their medical school during clinical versus preclinical training. The students' tendency to seek informal care from colleagues remained consistent, as did their high level of concern about professional jeopardy relating to personal health issues. Their tendency to accept the dual patient-student role depended on the particular health care issue; they expressed a strong tendency to protect other students' confidentiality, even in cases of potential significant impairment. Responses were reliable across a 1-month retest interval. We conclude that medical students' perspectives on their mental and physical health care across the transition from preclinical to clinical training reveal the importance of pursuing, not neglecting, a number of clinical and educational initiatives. Through their specialized expertise, psychiatrists may help to ensure sound mental and physical health care for the more than 69,000 medical students in training in this country.
View details for Web of Science ID 000088174900013
View details for PubMedID 10929800
-
Evidence-based ethics and informed consent in mental illness research
ARCHIVES OF GENERAL PSYCHIATRY
2000; 57 (6): 540-542
View details for Web of Science ID 000087360300002
View details for PubMedID 10839331
-
Health care on main street
HASTINGS CENTER REPORT
2000; 30 (3): 5-5
View details for Web of Science ID 000087261300004
View details for PubMedID 10862362
-
Caring for medical students as patients: Access to services and care-seeking practices of 1,027 students at nine medical schools
ACADEMIC MEDICINE
2000; 75 (3): 272-277
Abstract
The personal health care of medical students is an important but neglected issue in medical education. Preliminary work suggests that medical student-patients experience special barriers to health care services and report problematic care-seeking practices that merit further inquiry.A self-report questionnaire was piloted, revised, and distributed to students at nine medical schools in 1996-97. The survey included questions regarding access to health services, care-seeking practices, and demographic information.A total of 1,027 students participated (52% response rate). Ninety percent reported needing care for various health concerns. Fifty-seven percent did not seek care at times, in part due to training demands, and 48% had encountered difficulties in obtaining care. A majority had received treatment at their training institutions, and students commonly pursued informal or "curbside" care from medical colleagues. Almost all participants (96%) were insured. Differences in responses were associated with level of training, gender, and medical school.Medical schools shoulder the responsibility not only of educating but also of providing health services for their students. Students encounter barriers to care and engage in problematic care-seeking practices. Greater attention to issues surrounding medical student health may benefit students and their future patients.
View details for Web of Science ID 000085834400018
View details for PubMedID 10724317
-
Perspectives of patients with schizophrenia and psychiatrists regarding ethically important aspects of research participation
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRY
2000; 157 (1): 67-74
Abstract
Significant controversy surrounds the ethics of psychiatric research. Nevertheless, few data have been gathered to improve our understanding of how individuals with serious mental illness and psychiatrists view ethically important aspects of biomedical research participation.The authors assessed views of clinically diagnosed patients with schizophrenia from three sites by means of structured interviews and views of psychiatrists at two sites with written surveys regarding attitudes affecting motivation to participate in biomedical research, attitudes related to autonomy and influences on participation decisions, and attitudes toward the inclusion of vulnerable populations in research. The schizophrenia patients were asked to indicate their personal views; the psychiatrists were asked to provide their personal views and to predict schizophrenia patients' views. Responses were compared by using repeated measures multivariate analysis of variance.Sixty-three patients with schizophrenia and 73 psychiatry faculty and residents participated. Overall, responses to 23 rated attitudes revealed remarkably similar rank orders and several areas of agreement between patients and psychiatrists. Both groups strongly supported schizophrenia research and autonomous decision making by participants. They saw helping others and helping science as important reasons for protocol participation. Patients endorsed the feeling of hope associated with research involvement, a perspective underestimated by psychiatrists. Psychiatrists also underestimated the patients' acceptance of physician, investigator, and family influences on participation decisions. Psychiatrists agreed more strongly than patients that vulnerable populations should be included in research.This study helps to characterize previously neglected attitudes of psychiatric patients and clinicians toward ethically important aspects of biomedical research participation. Schizophrenia patients offered highly discerning views, and interesting similarities and differences emerged in comparing responses of patients and psychiatrists.
View details for Web of Science ID 000084559900011
View details for PubMedID 10618015
-
Psychiatric research ethics: An overview of evolving guidelines and current ethical dilemmas in the study of mental illness
BIOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY
1999; 46 (8): 1025-1038
Abstract
The field of psychiatry has an opportunity to construct a more refined, perhaps more enduring understanding of the ethical basis of mental illness research. The aim of this paper is to help advance this understanding by 1) tracing the evolution of the emerging ethic for biomedical experimentation, including recent recommendations of the President's National Bioethics Advisory Commission, and 2) reviewing data and concepts related to compelling ethical questions now faced in the study of mental disorders. Empirical findings on informed consent, the ethical safeguards of institutional review and surrogate decision making, and the relationship between scientific and ethical imperatives are outlined. Psychiatric researchers will increasingly be called upon to justify their scientific approaches and to seek ways of safeguarding the well-being of people with mental illness who participate in experiments. Most importantly, psychiatric investigators will need to demonstrate their appreciation and respect for ethical dimensions of investigation with special populations. Further empirical study and greater sophistication with respect to the distinct ethical issues in psychiatric research are needed. Although such measures present many challenges, they should not interfere with progress in neuropsychiatric science so long as researchers in our field seek to guide the process of reflection and implementation.
View details for Web of Science ID 000083152800007
View details for PubMedID 10536739
-
Ethical dimensions of psychiatric research: A constructive, criterion-based approach to protocol preparation. The Research Protocol Ethics Assessment Tool (RePEAT)
BIOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY
1999; 46 (8): 1106-1119
Abstract
Preparing experimental protocols that are ethically sound, possess scientific merit, and meet institutional and national standards for human subject protections is a key responsibility of psychiatric investigators. This task has become increasingly complex due to developments in biomedical science, bioethics, and society at large. Practical and constructive approaches to help investigators in their efforts to create protocols that are ethically acceptable have nevertheless received little attention. To better address this gap, the Research Protocol Ethics Assessment Tool (RePEAT) was developed as an educational instrument to help assure that ethically important elements, including scientific design features, are explicitly addressed by investigators in their work with protocols involving human participants. The RePEAT is a brief evaluative checklist that reflects rigorous ethical standards, particularly with respect to criteria for studies that may involve individuals with compromised decisional abilities. For this reason, it may be especially beneficial as a self-assessment tool for investigators and protocol reviewers in psychiatry. To stimulate education and dialogue, this report presents the RePEAT and outlines its content, format, use, and limitations.
View details for Web of Science ID 000083152800014
View details for PubMedID 10536746
-
Assessing medical students' competence in obtaining informed consent
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SURGERY
1999; 178 (4): 351-354
Abstract
Medical schools increasingly place emphasis on preparing students to perform routine, ethically important clinical activities with sensitivity and acumen. A method for evaluating students' skills in obtaining informed consent that was created at our institution is described.Formal assessment of medical students' professional attitudes, values, and ethics skills occurs in the context of three required and developmentally attuned comprehensive examinations. A videotaped station tested senior medical students' ability to obtain informed consent from a standardized patient who expresses concern about undergoing cardiac catheterization. Two checklists were completed by the patient. Videotapes were reviewed by a faculty member, and students' reactions to the assessment experience were documented.Seventy-one senior students participated, and all performed well. Mean scores of 6.3 out of 7 (range 5 to 7, SD = 0.5) on the informed consent checklist and 8.7 out of 9 (range 6 to 9, SD = 0.5) on the communication skills checklist were obtained. Students endorsed the importance of the skills tested.This method of examining medical students' abilities to obtain informed consent has several positive features and holds promise as an ethics competence assessment tool.
View details for Web of Science ID 000083700400021
View details for PubMedID 10587199
-
An office on main street - Health care dilemmas in small communities
HASTINGS CENTER REPORT
1999; 29 (4): 28-37
View details for Web of Science ID 000082287200014
View details for PubMedID 10451837
-
Comprehensive performance examination gives insights into the "hidden curriculum".
Academic medicine
1999; 74 (5): 597-598
View details for PubMedID 10676221
-
Frontier ethics: Mental health care needs and ethical dilemmas in rural communities
PSYCHIATRIC SERVICES
1999; 50 (4): 497-503
Abstract
Roughly 15 million of the 62 million rural U.S. residents struggle with mental illness and substance abuse. These rural dwellers have significant health care needs but commonly experience obstacles to obtaining adequate psychiatric services. Important but little-recognized ethical dilemmas also affect rural mental health care delivery. Six attributes of isolated settings with limited resources appear to intensify these ethical dilemmas: overlapping relationships, conflicting roles, and altered therapeutic boundaries between caregivers, patients, and families; challenges in preserving patient confidentiality; heightened cultural dimensions of mental health care; "generalist" care and multidisciplinary team issues; limited resources for consultation about clinical ethics; and greater stresses experienced by rural caregivers. The authors describe these features of rural mental health care and provide vignettes illustrating dilemmas encountered in the predominantly rural and frontier states of Alaska and New Mexico. They also outline constructive approaches to rural ethical dilemmas in mental health care.
View details for Web of Science ID 000079528200007
View details for PubMedID 10211730
-
Honorary fellowship awards and professional development in psychiatry
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
1999; 23 (4): 210-221
View details for Web of Science ID 000084147500007
-
The ethical basis of psychiatric research: Conceptual issues and empirical findings
COMPREHENSIVE PSYCHIATRY
1998; 39 (3): 99-110
Abstract
The study objective was to clarify the ethical basis of psychiatric research by outlining conceptual issues and empirical findings related to the ethics of human experimentation. A systematic review of scholarly and empirical literature covering three decades was performed. The ethics of human research has come to be understood in relation to the principles of respect for persons, beneficence, justice, and the ideal of informed consent. Subjects who cannot fully participate in informed-consent processes are especially vulnerable to exploitation. Current dilemmas stem from insufficient attention to the vulnerabilities of mentally ill research participants, problems in applying ethical concepts and guidelines to psychiatric research, and claims of research misconduct. Empirical studies indicate that (1) psychiatric symptoms significantly affect informed consent, (2) psychiatric patients may possess certain strengths with respect to research involvement, (3) proxy decision-making is problematic, (4) informed consent is also difficult to attain with the medically ill and others, (5) patients are motivated to participate in research by the hope of personal benefit, (6) ethical aspects of research are poorly documented, and (7) institutional review processes may not be adequate to protect vulnerable subjects. Psychiatric research can be performed ethically, according to standards set throughout the biomedical and behavioral sciences, so long as researchers and institutions are respectful of special ethical issues in human experimentation and strive to include vulnerable study participants fully in research decisions. However, many gaps in the empirical literature exist regarding the specific nature and implementation of ethics principles in psychiatric research. Efforts to advance both science and ethics, including the study of ethical dimensions of human research itself, are essential for the future of psychiatry.
View details for Web of Science ID 000073654300001
View details for PubMedID 9606575
-
Ethics in psychiatric research - Resources for faculty development and resident education
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
1998; 22 (1): 1-20
Abstract
Controversy has arisen in recent years about the participation of psychiatric patients in questionably ethical research protocols. Consequently, academic psychiatrists have been called upon to enrich their understanding of the ethical aspects of research and to teach residents more intensively about these issues in scientific methodology. Toward these ends, the authors have assembled an extensive resource listing in the area of psychiatric research ethics. Articles were identified through MEDLINE and BIOETHICS LINE computerized searches and the authors' review of relevant literature through 1996. Emphasis was placed on those pieces with special historical value, empirical studies, and papers that provide background on the current controversies in psychiatric research ethics. The references were organized into five logical categories. Based on the resource review, the authors briefly discuss areas related to research ethics that merit greater attention in academic psychiatry.
View details for Web of Science ID 000072754800001
View details for PubMedID 24435698
-
Psychiatric evaluation of a "monk" requesting castration: A patient's fable, with morals
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRY
1998; 155 (3): 415-420
View details for Web of Science ID 000072290600017
View details for PubMedID 9501755
-
Attitudes of consultation-liaison psychiatrists toward physician-assisted death practices
PSYCHOSOMATICS
1997; 38 (5): 459-471
Abstract
The objective of this study was to investigate the views of consultation-liaison (C-L) psychiatrists on assisted-death practices. A 33-question anonymous survey was distributed at the Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine Annual Meeting in November 1995. The instrument explored perceptions of acceptability of assisted death in six hypothetical patient situations as performed by four possible agents. The response rate was 48% (184 conference attendees participated, i.e., completed and returned the surveys). With little variability, the respondents were unwilling to perform assisted death personally and also did not support assisted death as performed by nonphysicians. The respondents were somewhat more accepting of referral or other physicians' involvement in such practices. Assisted death was viewed differently than withdrawal of life support. Several variables were analyzed for their influences on the views expressed. The C-L psychiatrists in this study expressed opposition to assisted death practices. Their views varied somewhat depending on the patient vignette and the agent of death assistance. The authors conclude that C-L psychiatrists may wish to develop their present therapeutic and evaluative role in patient care to alleviate suffering, without hastening patient death.
View details for Web of Science ID A1997XY30200006
View details for PubMedID 9314715
-
Internal medicine, psychiatry, and emergency medicine residents' views of assisted death practices
ARCHIVES OF INTERNAL MEDICINE
1997; 157 (14): 1603-1609
Abstract
Although studies have revealed conflicting attitudes within the medical community regarding assisted death practices in the United States, the views of current resident physicians have not been described.To investigate the perspectives of residents from 3 medical specialty fields regarding the acceptability of assisted suicide and euthanasia practices as performed by 4 possible agents (the resident personally, a referral physician, physicians in general, or nonphysicians in general) in 6 patient scenarios.An anonymous survey exploring responses to 6 patient vignettes was conducted with a convenience sample of all residents in the internal medicine, psychiatry, and emergency medicine training programs.A total of 96 residents, 72% of those asked, participated in this study. Overall, residents expressed opposition or uncertainty regarding assisted suicide and euthanasia. The residents were disinclined to directly perform such practices themselves and did not support the conduct of assisted suicide practices by nonphysicians. Respondents were somewhat more accepting of other physicians' involvement in assisted death activities. Conflicting views were expressed by residents, with emergency medicine residents more likely to support assisted suicide practices in 4 of 6 patient vignettes than either internal medicine or psychiatry residents. Residents who reported being influenced by religious beliefs (21 respondents [22%]) did not support assisted death practices, whereas those influenced by personal philosophy (74 respondents [77%]) expressed less opposition.This study explores the uncertainty and differing views of residents from 3 fields about physician-assisted suicide practices. Study findings are considered within the larger literature on clinician attitudes toward assisted suicide and euthanasia.
View details for Web of Science ID A1997XL72900011
View details for PubMedID 9236563
-
Sequential assessment of medical student competence with respect to professional attitudes, values, and ethics. Subcommittee on Professional Attitudes and Values, Student Progress Assessment.
Academic medicine
1997; 72 (5): 428-429
View details for PubMedID 10676351
-
An integrated psychiatry-neurology clerkship within a problem-based learning curriculum.
Academic medicine
1997; 72 (5): 423-424
View details for PubMedID 10676343
-
Medical students as patients: A pilot study of their health care needs, practices, and concerns
ACADEMIC MEDICINE
1996; 71 (11): 1225-1232
Abstract
The personal health experiences of medical students may contribute in important but previously unacknowledged ways to their well-being and education. This pilot study surveyed medical students about their health care needs, practices, insurance status, and concerns about seeking care.A questionnaire was developed and distributed to 151 students at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine in 1993-94. Participant privacy was protected. Responses were compiled and analyzed using logistic regression models and odds ratios.A total of 112 students responded. Most reported health care needs and half routinely received care at their training institution. One-third had informally requested prescriptions or diagnostic tests from medical school faculty and housestaff; one-fourth used such informal consultation as their "usual" method of obtaining care. Eighteen students were uninsured. The students reported that they had not sought care for several reasons, and many had experienced difficulty in obtaining care. The students indicated concern about confidentiality and about the dual role as both student and patient at the training institution. They believed that their academic standing would be jeopardized if they developed certain health problems. When asked about hypothetical scenarios, a majority preferred to avoid the dual role of medical-student-patient. When asked about scenarios in which medical student peers exhibited suicidal depression or severe drug abuse, the students overwhelmingly preferred not to notify the medical school administration. Significant differences in responses were found with respect to gender and training level.This pilot study examined the health care needs, practices (including the use of informal consultation), insurance status, and concerns of students at one medical school. The findings highlight the students' perceptions of illness and vulnerability during medical school training. Constructive implications for academic medicine are discussed regarding initiatives in the areas of policy, research, and the resources and structure of student health care services.
View details for Web of Science ID A1996VT71700027
View details for PubMedID 9217511
-
What and how psychiatry residents at ten training programs wish to learn about ethics
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
1996; 20 (3): 131-143
Abstract
The study's objective was to survey what and how psychiatry residents want to learn about ethics during residency. A 4-page questionnaire developed for this study was sent to 305 residents at 10 adult psychiatry programs in the United States. One-hundred and eighty-one (59%) of those surveyed responded. Seventy-six percent reported facing an ethical dilemma in residency for which they felt unprepared. Forty-six percent reported having received no ethics training during residency. More than 50% of the respondents requested that "more" curricular attention be paid to 19 specific ethics topics and more than 40% for 25 topics. Preferences with respect to learning methods are presented. This survey may provide guidance in structuring the content and process of ethics education for psychiatry residents. These findings should stimulate the efforts of faculty to commit time and attention to this important curricular area.
View details for Web of Science ID A1996VE90300003
View details for PubMedID 24442690
-
Clinical ethics teaching in psychiatric supervision
ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRY
1996; 20 (3): 176-188
Abstract
Supervision of psychiatric residents provides a natural context for clinical ethics teaching. In this article, the authors discuss the need for ethics education in psychiatry residencies and describe how the special attributes of supervision allow for optimal ethics training for psychiatry residents in their everyday encounters with ethical problems. Ethical decision making in clinical settings is briefly reviewed, and a 6-step strategy for clinical ethics training in psychiatric supervision is outlined. The value of the clinical ethics supervisory strategy for teaching and patient care is illustrated through four case examples.
View details for Web of Science ID A1996VE90300008
View details for PubMedID 24442695
-
Urologic sequelae of childhood genitourinary trauma and abuse in men: Principles of recognition with fifteen case illustrations
UROLOGY
1996; 47 (5): 617-621
Abstract
Providing urologic care to men who have been traumatized during childhood may be especially challenging because of the extent, severity, and unusual character of their urogenital problems. Recognition of past trauma entails attentiveness to patients' background and behaviors. As illustrated through these 15 cases, patients who present with too many past surgeries, too many unremitting urologic complaints, too little sexual function and too few genital parts, sexual impulses that are too strong, sexualized conduct in clinical settings, and self-destructive behaviors surrounding sexuality may have experienced trauma in the past. While empirical studies are necessary to demonstrate the ultimate utility of these categories, appreciation of these clinical indications improves the urologic care provided to traumatized men in four ways: by elucidating unusual and unusually recalcitrant urologic complaints, thereby clarifying clinical decisions; by allowing for appropriate use of psychiatric consultation; by promoting a better understanding of the sequelae of trauma in men; and by alleviating the discomfort naturally felt by urologists and their staff when caring for these difficult, multiproblem patients.
View details for Web of Science ID A1996UN30500001
View details for PubMedID 8650855
- What and how psychiatry residents at ten training programs wish to learn about ethics Academic Psychiatry 1996; 20 (3): 127-139
- Clinical ethics teaching in psychiatric supervision Academic Psychiatry 1996; 20 (3): 176-188
-
Should competent patients or their families be able to refuse to allow an HEC case review? Yes.
HEC forum : an interdisciplinary journal on hospitals' ethical and legal issues
1995; 7 (1): 48-50
View details for PubMedID 10141589
-
CARING FOR MEDICAL-STUDENTS AS PATIENTS
ARCHIVES OF INTERNAL MEDICINE
1990; 150 (11): 2249-2253
View details for Web of Science ID A1990EH46500003
View details for PubMedID 2241434
-
Ethical aspects of research involving elderly subjects: are we doing more than we say?
journal of clinical ethics
1990; 1 (4): 278-285
View details for PubMedID 2131082
-
MEDICAL-ETHICS EDUCATION - COMING OF AGE
ACADEMIC MEDICINE
1989; 64 (12): 705-714
Abstract
Medical ethics education is instruction that endeavors to teach the examination of the role of values in the doctor's relationship with patients, colleagues, and society. It is one front of a broad curricular effort to develop physicians' values, social perspectives, and interpersonal skills for the practice of medicine. The authors define medical ethics education as more clinically centered than human values education and more inclusive of philosophical, social, and legal issues than is interpersonal skills training. The authors review the history of the emergence of medical ethics education over the last 20 years, examine the areas of consensus that have emerged concerning the general objectives and premises for designing medical ethics programs, and describe teaching objectives and methods, course content, and program evaluation used in such programs on both preclinical and clinical levels. The four interrelated requirements for successful institutionalization of medical ethics education programs are defined and discussed, and the paper ends with an overview of the uncertain future of medical ethics education, an accepted but still not fully mature part of physician training in the United States. An extensive reference list accompanies the article.
View details for Web of Science ID A1989CD86100005
View details for PubMedID 2686674
-
DEVELOPMENT OF A TEACHING PROGRAM IN CLINICAL MEDICAL-ETHICS AT THE UNIVERSITY-OF-CHICAGO
ACADEMIC MEDICINE
1989; 64 (12): 723-729
Abstract
The University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine has developed and evaluated an extensive teaching program in clinical ethics coordinated primarily through the Center for Clinical Medical Ethics. The program provides medical students with a foundation in medical ethics during the four years of medical school and augments the clinical ethics knowledge and teaching skills of the housestaff and clinical faculty at the University of Chicago. Together, medical student teaching and clinical faculty development have made clinical ethics an integral part of medical education at the University of Chicago. Through these efforts, the teaching program aims to incorporate clinical ethics considerations into medical decisions and in this way contribute to improving patient care. (A detailed overview of all clinical ethics instruction at the school is provided.)
View details for Web of Science ID A1989CD86100008
View details for PubMedID 2590351
-
EVOLUTIONARY APPROACHES TO PSYCHIATRY AND PROBLEMS OF METHOD
COMPREHENSIVE PSYCHIATRY
1988; 29 (6): 598-603
Abstract
Evolutionary hypotheses have been used widely to interpret enigmatic psychiatric phenomena. In applying evolutionary theory, three common methodological errors occur: imprecise and inappropriate use of evidence and theoretical concepts; incorrect assessment of the level at which evolutionary processes occur; and potential misinterpretation of observations due to a confusion of proximate and ultimate causation. Guidelines and criteria for developing meaningful evolutionary hypotheses and rigorous research strategies are described. It is hoped that these efforts will enhance the contribution evolutionary theory may have as it is applied to psychiatric observations in the future.
View details for Web of Science ID A1988R152000009
View details for PubMedID 3069308
-
Demonstrating Patterns in the Views Of Stakeholders Regarding Ethically-Salient Issues in Clinical Research: A Novel Use of Graphical Models in Empirical Ethics Inquiry.
AJOB empirical bioethics
; 6 (2): 33–42
Abstract
Empirical ethics inquiry works from the notion that stakeholder perspectives are necessary for gauging the ethical acceptability of human studies and assuring that research aligns with societal expectations. Although common, studies involving different populations often entail comparisons of trends that problematize the interpretation of results. Using graphical model selection - a technique aimed at transcending limitations of conventional methods - this report presents data on the ethics of clinical research with two objectives: (1) to display the patterns of views held by ill and healthy individuals in clinical research as a test of the study's original hypothesis and (2) to introduce graphical model selection as a key analytic tool for ethics research.In this IRB-approved, NIH-funded project, data were collected from 60 mentally ill and 43 physically ill clinical research protocol volunteers, 47 healthy protocol-consented participants, and 29 healthy individuals without research protocol experience. Respondents were queried on the ethical acceptability of research involving people with mental and physical illness (i.e., cancer, HIV, depression, schizophrenia, and post-traumatic stress disorder) and non-illness related sources of vulnerability (e.g., age, class, gender, ethnicity). Using a statistical algorithm, we selected graphical models to display interrelationships among responses to questions.Both mentally and physically ill protocol volunteers revealed a high degree of connectivity among ethically-salient perspectives. Healthy participants, irrespective of research protocol experience, revealed patterns of views that were not highly connected.Between ill and healthy protocol participants, the pattern of views is vastly different. Experience with illness was tied to dense connectivity, whereas healthy individuals expressed views with sparse connections. In offering a nuanced perspective on the interrelation of ethically relevant responses, graphical model selection has the potential to bring new insights to the field of ethics.
View details for PubMedID 25961066
View details for PubMedCentralID PMC4423405