A Curriculum for Learning About American Indians and Alaska Natives in Psychiatry Residency Training

Abstract

This article is the the third of six residency training curricula written for psychiatric educators by members of the American Psychiatric Association's (APA) minority and underrepresented component committees. The first curriculum (on homosexuality) appeared in the Summer 1994 issue of Academic Psychiatry, the second curriculum (on gender and women's issues) in the Winter 1995 issue. Commissioned by the APA Assembly, these curricula are intended to represent collectively a state-of-the-art description of psychiatric residency training regarding the needs of individuals from minority and traditionally underrepresented populations within the United States. They may be seen as a companion work to the growing body of clinically oriented volumes on the subject of the interaction of culture, ethnicity, and psychiatry. They are valuable resources and serve as guideposts for psychiatric educators. The remaining three curricula will appear in upcoming issues.A curriculum is pro posed for teaching psychiatric residents about the diagnosis and treatment of American Indians and Alaska Natives. The historical context, contemporary myths, and the rationale for the inclusion of curriculum materials on Indians in residency training are presented. The curriculum for the 4 years of residency training is then briefly described, and the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed by residents are outlined. In postgraduate year (PGY)-1 and PGY-2, the curriculum includes a basic history and description of Indian people, information on myths about the group, and psychiatric epidemiology and psychopathology. In PGY-3, information is included on clinical care, as well as on related areas such as service utilization and illness prevention. In PGY-4, a seminar is proposed in which psychotherapy and other clinical cases are discussed. (Academic Psychiatry 1996; 20:5-14).