TOWARD SOCIOCULTURAL FLEXIBILITY IN RESIDENT EDUCATION
SHERWYN M. WOODS M.D.1
1 Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Co-Director of Graduate Training, University of Southern California School of Medicine, 1934 Hospital Place, Los Angeles and NIMH Career Teacher under Public Health Service grant MH-8447 from the National Institute of Mental Health
Today's psychiatrist should possess sufficient sociocultural flexibility in his professional abilities to work effectively with patients whose cultural class and economic or educational backgrounds differ considerably from his own. Otherwise, his effectiveness is limited by his own class- and culture-bound rigidities, attitudes and value systems. Specific additions to a residency training program are suggested in order to assist the resident in reaching such professional flexibility and capability.
