Russell Paul Ss, Nair Muttathu Kc
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Unit, Department of Psychiatry, Christian Medical College, Vellore 632 002, Southern India, India.
Asia Pac Fam Med. 2010 Feb 18;9(1):3. doi: 10.1186/1447-056X-9-3.
Paediatricians can be empowered to address the Priority Mental Health Disorders at primary care level. To evaluate the effectiveness of a collaborative workshop in enhancing the adolescent psychiatry knowledge among paediatricians.
A 3-day, 27-hours workshop was held for paediatricians from different regions of India under the auspices of the National Adolescent Paediatric Task Force of the Indian Academy of Paediatrics. A 5-item pretest-posttest questionnaire was developed and administered at the beginning and end of the workshop to evaluate the participants' knowledge acquisition in adolescent psychiatry. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were performed on an intention-to-participate basis.
Forty-eight paediatricians completed the questionnaire. There was significant enhancement of the knowledge in understanding the phenomenology, identifying the psychopathology, diagnosing common mental disorder and selecting the psychotropic medication in the bivariate analysis. When the possible confounders of level of training in paediatrics and number of years spent as paediatrician were controlled, in addition to the above areas of adolescent psychiatry, the diagnostic ability involving multiple psychological concepts also gained significance. However, both in the bivariate and multivariate analyses, the ability to refer to appropriate psychotherapy remained unchanged after the workshop.
This workshop was effective in enhancing the adolescent psychiatry knowledge of paediatricians. Such workshops could strengthen paediatricians in addressing the priority mental health disorders at the primary-care level in countries with low-human resource for health as advocated by the World Health Organization. However, it remains to be seen if this acquisition of adolescent psychiatry knowledge results in enhancing their adolescent psychiatry practice.
儿科医生可以被赋予在基层医疗层面处理重点心理健康障碍的能力。为评估一个协作式工作坊在增强儿科医生青少年精神病学知识方面的有效性。
在印度儿科学会国家青少年儿科特别工作组的支持下，为来自印度不同地区的儿科医生举办了一个为期3天、共27小时的工作坊。编制了一份包含5个项目的前后测问卷，并在工作坊开始和结束时进行施测，以评估参与者在青少年精神病学方面的知识获取情况。基于参与意愿进行了双变量和多变量分析。
48名儿科医生完成了问卷。在双变量分析中，在理解现象学、识别精神病理学、诊断常见精神障碍以及选择精神药物方面的知识有显著增强。当控制儿科培训水平和作为儿科医生的工作年限等可能的混杂因素后，除了上述青少年精神病学领域外，涉及多个心理概念的诊断能力也变得显著。然而，在双变量和多变量分析中，工作坊后转介至适当心理治疗的能力均未改变。
这个工作坊在增强儿科医生的青少年精神病学知识方面是有效的。正如世界卫生组织所倡导的，此类工作坊可以增强人力资源匮乏国家的儿科医生在基层医疗层面处理重点心理健康障碍的能力。然而，这种青少年精神病学知识的获取是否会增强他们在青少年精神病学方面的实践，仍有待观察。
