Quality in psychiatric training - Development of a resident satisfaction questionnaire

The authors describe the development of an instrument to measure resident s atisfaction with training, the Resident Satisfaction Questionnaire (RSQ). A national sample of 180 residents rated 41 items regarding the relative imp ortance of each item in determining resident satisfaction with training. Th e five items rated most important in determining resident satisfaction with psychiatric training were 1) quality of supervision; 2) respect of faculty for residents; 3) responsiveness of the program to feedback from residents ; 4) balance of training between psychosocial and biomedical aspects of psy chiatry; and 5) departmental morale. Authors discuss differences among resi dent subgroups. The 10-item RSQ included items rated most important by the overall group of residents and by resident subgroups. Authors present recom mendations for use of the questionnaire.