APA practice guidelines - A pilot study of a district branch-based educational intervention: Awareness and reactions

Seventy-eight psychiatrists attending an American Psychiatric Association ( APA) district branch continuing education meeting were surveyed about their awareness and acceptance of the APA's practice guideline for bipolar disor der. Assessments were conducted immediately before and again immediately fo llowing an educational intervention, which consisted of a 3-hour slide-show and lecture presentation on these guidelines. Before the presentation, one out of six of these psychiatrists did not know that practice guidelines ev en existed, and about one-half did not have (or did not know that they had) a copy, and they did not know that guidelines were published in the Americ an Journal of Psychiatry. Almost half had not read any of the bipolar guide line, whereas 34% had read "some" or "thoroughly." Responses before and fol lowing the intervention showed that a large majority of the psychiatrists f elt that this specific guideline generally validated the manner in which th ey treated patients with bipolar disorders, and almost half felt that knowl edge obtained from the guideline had changed, or would change, their treatm ent of bipolar disorders in the fixture. High levels of acceptability for t he guideline were reported both by those who had previously read the guidel ine and those who first became familiar with it during the presentation. Pr esentations at APA district branches may aid in dissemination of practice g uidelines, but additional interventions and dissemination techniques are re quired as well. Since questions based on the APA's practice guidelines will be increasingly influential in American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology recertification examinations, more comprehensive dissemination methods are needed to assure that practitioners are well acquainted with these guidelin es.