Career Interests of Canadian Psychiatry Residents: What Makes Residents Choose a Research Career?

Objectives: Training future clinician-researchers remains a challenge faced by Canadian psychiatry departments. Our objectives were to determine the prevalence of residents interested in pursuing research and other career options as part of their practice, and to identify the factors associated with interest in research. Method: Data from a national online survey of 207 Canadian psychiatry residents from a total of 853 (24.3% response rate) were examined. The main outcome was interest in research as part of residents’ future psychiatrist practice. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were performed to identify demographic and vocational variables associated with research interest. Results: Interest in research decreases by 76% between the first and fifth year of psychiatry residency (OR 0.76 per year, 95% CI 0.60 to 0.97). Training in a department with a residency research track did not correlate with increased research interest (χ2 = 0.007, df = 1, P = 0.93). Conclusions: Exposing and engaging psychiatry residents in research as early as possible in residency training appears key to promoting future research interest. Psychiatry residency programs and research tracks could consider emphasizing research training initiatives and protected research time early in residency.