Resident Attitudes Toward Medicolegal Topics and the Correlation to Teaching Exposure and Clinical Experience
| Statements Regarding Medicolegal Topics | % Residents Agreeing With Statement | Taught About Specific Forensic Area | Had Clinical Experience in Specific Area | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence Risk Assessment | NCR and Fitness Evaluations | Correctional Psychiatry | Paraphilias and Sex Offenders | Violence Risk Assessment | NCR and Fitness Evaluations | Correctional Psychiatry | Paraphilias and Sex Offenders | ||
| I feel comfortable dealing with most forensic matters (n = 137) | 24.8 | .04 | .17* | .11 | .18* | .13 | .40** | .24** | .19* |
| Forensic subjects interest me (n = 139) | 71.2 | .05 | .04 | .09 | .11 | .06 | .32** | .27** | .06 |
| I would have liked more forensic psychiatry experience in my training (n = 138) | 63.0 | .04 | .03 | −.17* | −.14 | −.02 | .04 | −.12 | −.07 |
| Some forensic psychiatry clinical training should be mandatory for all trainees (n = 140) | 80.7 | .15 | .03 | .10 | .02 | .07 | .14 | .08 | .13 |
| I prefer not to deal with forensic topics (n = 139) | 31.7 | −.12 | .06 | −.05 | −.02 | −.17* | −.25** | −.23** | −.10 |
| I was aware that a rotation in forensic psychiatry could satisfy the “severe and persistent mental illness” requirement of training (n = 131) | 48.9 | −.03 | −.05 | .16 | .14 | .03 | .12 | .30** | .07 |
| I would not choose forensic psychiatry as a career primarily because I would worry about the safety of my family and myself (n = 137) | 25.5 | −.18* | .01 | −.06 | −.08 | −.08 | −.12 | −.13 | −.09 |
| The idea of testifying in court intimidates me (n = 133) | 73.7 | .02 | −.06 | .05 | −.04 | .05 | .02 | .01 | .05 |
| Forensic patients are not easy to like (n = 137) | 29.2 | −.14 | .05 | −.01 | −.07 | −.10 | −.17* | −.13 | −.14 |
| Criminals are unlikely to have a psychiatric illness (n = 136) | 2.9 | .13 | .02 | .00 | −.03 | −.02 | −.02 | .06 | .07 |
| I would prefer not to work with people with criminal histories (n = 134) | 24.6 | −.08 | .04 | .11 | −.03 | −.15 | −.15 | −.13 | −.03 |
| I would likely try to avoid offering services to people with criminal histories (n = 136) | 7.4 | −.20* | −.16 | −.04 | .00 | −.21* | −.17* | −.11 | .04 |
| I would be likely to try to avoid offering consultation or treatment to individuals in prison (n = 134) | 28.4 | −.06 | −.04 | .04 | −.17* | −.07 | −.28** | −.11 | −.06 |
| I would be likely to try to avoid offering consultation or treatment to people leaving prison (n = 135) | 17.8 | −.11 | −.06 | .00 | −.07 | −.17* | −.33** | −.09 | −.16 |
| Sex offenders are unlikely to have psychiatric illness (n = 134) | 1.5 | −.09 | −.08 | −.06 | −.06 | −.04 | −.04 | −.05 | .15 |
| I would prefer not to work with people with sexual offences (n = 134) | 43.3 | −.01 | .08 | .07 | −.10 | −.12 | −.20* | −.13 | −.04 |
| I would likely try to avoid offering services to people with sexual offences (n = 133) | 20.3 | −.03 | −.02 | −.04 | −.04 | −.01 | −.16 | −.14 | −.01 |
| I feel comfortable treating sex offenders for comorbid illness such as mood, anxiety, substance or psychosis (n = 132) | 54.5 | .03 | .09 | .03 | .22* | .04 | .18* | .01 | .09 |
| The criminal justice system is too lenient on sex offenders (n = 130) | 30.8 | .04 | −.02 | −.02 | −.04 | .07 | −.15 | .03 | −.07 |