Am J Psychiatry 1991; 148:216-220
Copyright © 1991 by American Psychiatric Association
A survey of Canadian psychiatric residents regarding resident-educator sexual contact
ML Carr, GE Robinson, DE Stewart and D Kussin
Toronto General Hospital, Ont., Canada.
BACKGROUND and METHOD: A survey of all Canadian psychiatric residents was
undertaken to ascertain the prevalence of resident-educator sexual contact
in training programs, the residents' feelings about this contact, their
knowledge of the ethical standards of the profession, and the extent of the
information they had been given about this subject. An
investigator-designed questionnaire was circulated to all psychiatric
residents in Canada through the directors of postgraduate training
programs. To ensure confidentiality, the residents returned their
questionnaires directly to the investigators. RESULTS: Of the 314
respondents, 4.1% (N = 6) of the female residents and 1.2% (N = 2) of the
male residents reported sexual involvements with their educators. Although
the majority of these eight residents had positive or neutral feelings
about the contact, 37.5% (N = 3) of the involved residents had mixed
feelings. The residents' education concerning resident-educator sexual
contact was strikingly sparse. CONCLUSIONS: This study highlights the need
for inclusion of this tissue in residency programs.
