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197506

The Training of Minority Psychiatrists
POSITION STATEMENT

Approved by the Board of Trustees, December 1975
Approved by the Assembly of District Branches, November 1975

"Policy documents are approved by the APA Assembly and Board of Trustees… These are …position statements that define APA official policy on specific subjects…" -- APA Operations Manual.

This statement, a revision of a previously approved statement (published in the August 1971 issue). The revision was recommended by the Council on National Affairs.1 The original statement was recommended by the Committee on Medical Education.2 

    ALL RESIDENCIES must provide treatment facilities; in these facilities the proportion of minority patients should reflect that of the surrounding community and/or represent its ethnic, socioeconomic, and cultural balance. 
    The future of stipends for psychiatric residents is uncertain, but if they are to be continued, minority residents should be favored. If there are to be loans for psychiatric residents, the lowest possible interest rate should be granted to minority residents, and the interest rate should be lower for those with greater need. 
    The Assembly of District Branches should study the situation in the district branches to see what effort they are making to deal with minority problems. The Assembly of District Branches may recommend that a specific committee on minority problems be set up within each district branch. 
    An annotated bibliography of the literature on the treatment of minorities, including papers by both minority and other psychiatrists, should be developed by APA, and the Association should determine how such a bibliography might best be distributed to its membership. 
    APA must powerfully encourage and support systematic research into such issues as the treatment, demography, sociology, etc., of minorities. These are the same questions that have been studied extensively in whites. The Council on Research and Development should determine if private or public funds are available for such research, because the problem of funding both minority and other research workers is crucial for the future of the Association. While most minority psychiatrists are currently on the "firing line," a few must be protected so that they can do research. This might be done by the National Institute of Mental Health and/or foundations developing career research and teacher funds for minority psychiatrists. 
    The American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology should investigate residency training programs to see if they are deficient in training minorities. If deficiencies are found, the Residency Review Committee should recommend specific changes, with further certification of the programs dependent upon the implementation of the changes. 
    The written examination of the Board should include a significant number of questions regarding minority psychiatry, and all oral examiners for the Board should include such questions in their examinations. 
    An effective residency training program should have an ethnically balanced faculty. Certification should be dependent upon proof of an ethnic balance or upon the presentation of a schedule for the program's achieving such a balance. 
    It is essential that APA express its sense of urgency in this matter. No unnecessary bureaucratic machinery should slow the process of implementing the recommendations as they are accepted.

__________
1The Council on National Affairs included Harold M. Visotsky, M.D., chairperson, James M. Bell, M.D., vice-chairperson, Hiawatha Harris, M.D., Jean Shioda Bolen, M.D., Frank M. Ochberg, M.D., Hector Jaso, M.D., Assembly of District Branches liaison, Esther P. Roberts, M.D., observer-consultant, and Marshall Belaga, M.D., Ezra Griffith, M.D., and Russell Phillips, M.D., Falk Fellows.
2The Committee on Medical Education then included Robert J. Stoller, M.D., chairperson, Jeanne Spurlock, M.D., James I. Mathis, M.D., S. Mouchly Small, M.D., Henry Coppolillo, M.D., Manuel Pearson, M.D., and Robin C.A. Hunter, M.D.