RELIGIOUS TRAINING AND RELIGIOSITY IN PSYCHIATRY RESIDENCY PROGRAMS

The authors present the results of a survey that inquired into the rel igious life of 121 residents from 5 psychiatric residency programs. In addition, the study sought to explore the didactic and supervision ex perience of the residents regarding religious issues. The authors' res ults show that this group of residents appears to be more religious th an what has been reported before in prior studies of psychiatrists' re ligious beliefs. While didactic exposure was limited, those who receiv ed didactic exposure were more likely than those who did not to believ e that religion is important in the clinical setting, and the former a lso felt move competent to recognize and attend to a patient's religio us and spiritual issues. Still, most residents felt competent to addre ss religious issues in their clinical encounter. The implications of t he results are discussed al; they relate to training.