Early Career Psychiatrists Committee Research Articles

Early Career Psychiatrists in Europe During COVID-19 Outbreak: Results of The EPA ECPC-EFPT Cross-Sectional Survey

Abstract BodyThe COVID-19 pandemic has affected the lives and work of Early Career Psychiatrists (ECPs). Some had to revamp their professional life, start using telepsychiatry without prior training, change their workplace during the pandemic, or were quarantined. Others were not able to complete their training or take obligatory courses as planned. The aim of the study was to understand the impact of the pandemic on education and professional development, working conditions and wellbeing of ECPs, as well as their attitude to telepsychiatry. The anonymous, 24-question cross-sectional survey was conducted by the European Psychiatric Association Early Career Psychiatrists Committee (EPA ECPC) and the Task Force on Meetings and Associations with the collaboration and support of the European Federation of Psychiatric Trainees (EFPT). 517 participants from 39 different countries (member states of the Council of Europe) have been included in the analysis. Statistical analyses have been performed. Final results will be presented during the symposium. Identifying the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on ECPs will help us better prepare for similar events in the future, equip them with the necessary skills and provide them with the right support.DisclosureNo significant relationships.

What opportunities do early career psychiatrists have in Europe and beyond?

The European Psychiatric Association (EPA), the main association in the field of mental health in Europe, has long been supporting the development of early career psychiatrists. The EPA Early Career Psychiatrists Committee (ECPC) and its core task forces promote research activities among young psychiatrists, contribute to their professional development through organising courses and other educational events, prepare online educational materials and publications, and actively collaborate with other organisations. The EPA ECPC is always open to fostering cooperation on new professional, educational or research initiatives with early career psychiatrists from different countries.

What opportunities do European early career psychiatrists have?

In the past century, biological, psychological and social sciences have brought significant progresses to psychiatry, building it is a broad medical specialty, closely linked to somatic medicine, psychology and society. Many psychiatrists early in their career have understood that it is easier to face these challenges in a collaborative way, and therefore there has been in the last decades a growth of local and national associations of psychiatric trainees and early career psychiatrists across Europe. In 2007, the European Psychiatric Association (EPA) has integrated in its program the "Young Psychiatrists Committee", an informal network of young psychiatrists. This Committee since 2010 has been known as the Early Career Psychiatrists Committee (ECPC). EPA has been making remarkable efforts towards supporting early career psychiatrists' education and participation in scientific congresses, promoting their professional growth and integration into the international professional community. Likewise, early career psychiatrists contribute to EPA with their motivation, enthusiasm and creative ideas, proving this initiative as an effective win-win cooperation.

Building national associations for psychiatry trainees: The MENTA recipe for success

European Federation of Psychiatric Trainees (EFPT) is an umbrella organization for national psychiatric trainee associations in Europe, aiming to develop collaboration between psychiatric trainees. EFPT states that organised trainee interest is crucial in promoting high quality psychiatric training, therefore it promotes that both general adult psychiatry and child and adolescent psychiatry trainees are represented by national trainee association in each European country. The Maintaining and Establishing a National Trainee Association Working Group (MENTA WG), a permanent EFPT working group, has been created to assist trainees in building a local trainee organization. MENTA WG supports organising meetings, helps manage the problems of functioning of an association, sends letters of support to national decision makers, helps prepare the organization's bylaws and facilitates the process of application for full EFPT membership. The group also helps reactivate the inactive associations and assists them in expansion and developing new initiatives. MENTA WG maintains close collaboration with the European Psychiatric Association Early Career Psychiatrists Committee (EPA ECPC) Task Force on Meetings and Associations and other organizations dedicated to early career psychiatrists, such as the Young Psychiatrists’ Network. In the last few years, due to the work done within MENTA WG, the EFPT family has grown and welcomed new official members, such as: Poland, Spain and Slovakia. Currently, we are planning on supporting trainees in Moldova, Bulgaria and Kosovo to establish new official organizations in these countries. We also expand our activities beyond Europe and offer counselling for psychiatric trainees from such countries as Australia or South Africa.Disclosure of interestThe author has not supplied his declaration of competing interest.

This is why there is hope for psychiatry

This is why there is hope for psychiatry

EPA-1441 - Should social psychiatry be a priority in mental health research?

Introduction Further to the recent debate about the future and the identity of psychiatry, we argue that social psychiatry will play a major role in psychiatric research and practice in the future. Aims To report priority areas in mental health research according to different categories of European stakeholders and to analyze pitfalls in training in social psychiatry. Objectives To review the current state of knowledge on social psychiatry and to propose future actions for research and practice in mental health. Methods In this presentation we will report data from the ROAMER stakeholders’ survey on priorities for mental health research in Europe according to the national associations of psychiatrists, other mental health professionals, users and/or carers, trainees in psychiatry, and the results from the activities of the European Psychiatric Association - Early Career Psychiatrists Committee (EPA-ECPC). Results Social psychiatry is a priority in mental health research according to all categories of stakeholders. In particular, the most important research areas indicated by the 108 respondents are early detection and management of mental disorders, quality of mental health services, prevention of mental disorders, rehabilitation and social inclusion, and stigma and discrimination. According to the survey carried out by EPAECPC, social psychiatry, psychopathology and forensic psychiatry are the areas most neglected during training Conclusions Our results show the general tendency that social psychiatry is a priority in mental health research and training. Actions should be taken as soon as possible in order to: a) fight stigma; b) improve employment rates of mentally ill; c) develop strategies to manage migrants’ psychiatric problems; d) improve quality of mental health services; e) promote mental health in the population.

1511 – Interface between child and adult mental health services. what can we do to improve the gap?

Transition from adolescent to adult mental health services is extremely important since most mental illnesses start in late adolescence. Although often discussed, this issue is rarely studied. The aim of this study is to gather information of how transition from adolescent to adult mental health services is yielded across Europe. The study was conducted during the EPA and the IACAPAP conferences in 2012 as a joint project of the European Federation of Psychiatric Trainees and the Early Career Psychiatrists Committee. The survey contained 14 questions related to general data, situation of transition in participant’s country and participant’s opinion on the concept of transition process. It was given to the randomly chosen participants (N=397). The questionnaire was completed by 166 European participants from 28 European Countries. They were mostly men (N= 88, 53 %) and specialists (N=107, 64.5%). Nearly half (N=76, 45.8%) have contact with transition issues at least once per month. Data analysis is in progress, but preliminary results show that more than half of participants think the transition process could be significantly improved (N=94, 56,6%), and they are manly from Italy, Portugal, Germany, Ireland and Spain. Only one fourth is quite satisfied with the current situation (N= 45, 27,1%). The latter group in mainly from the UK. We plan to use these results to broaden the study and gather more details regarding this issue in every European country

P-888 - Research in psychiatry today - is there a place for early career psychiatrists?

Modern technology and globalization dramatically changed our perception of how research in psychiatry should be done. On one hand, research topics in modern psychiatry considerably broadened over the years, and opportunities for collaboration as well as dissemination of results dramatically increased. On the other hand, research in psychiatry has become highly demanding, requiring the use of the most modern methodologies, large numbers of participants and fast publications of the results in highly competitive journals. Inevitably, it has become very costly in terms of time, money and human resources. These changes brought more opportunities for research to the new generations of European early career psychiatrists. Nevertheless, they also increased the inequality in opportunities for research among them, due to relative centralization of the most “exclusive” psychiatric research sites. Indeed, the majority of European early career psychiatrists miss real opportunities to get involved in research due to a lack of mentorship, psychiatric research groups and research facilities in their countries. Within this scenario, choosing the right kind of research for early career psychiatrists might be confusing and somewhat discouraging. To support the involvement of young colleagues in research, the Early Career Psychiatrists Committee has formed the Task Force on Research. We will present several projects run by our task force, each relying on a different approach of research in psychiatry. We think that the proposed approaches would be useful for early career psychiatrists, since they take into account both the strengths and limitations inherent to the role/position of early career psychiatrists.

P-857 - Early career psychiatrists' opinions on psychiatric training: an europe-wide survey

Continuous advances in psychiatric research and increased service users’ expectations led to the need to develop a new international framework for psychiatric training. The assessment of early career psychiatrists’ (ECPs) views has been emphasized as an important step of this process. However, at the moment, only few national studies have investigated ECPs’ opinions on received training. To assess: ECPs’ satisfaction with training and self-confidence in different psychiatric domains; availability of clinical supervision and educational opportunities during training. The Early Career Psychiatrists Committee of the European Psychiatric Association - in collaboration with the European Federation of Psychiatric Trainees, conducted an online survey among European ECPs. The Psychiatric Training Questionnaire, a multiple choice-answer self-reported instrument developed for this occasion, was completed by 194 respondents from 34 European countries. Most respondents (73%) were completely or partially satisfied with the received training. Highest levels of self-confidence were reported in clinical psychiatry (93%), pharmacotherapy (68%) and emergency psychiatry (67%); the most problematic areas for ECPs were forensic psychiatry (68%), psychotherapy (63%) and child and adolescent psychiatry (57%). Thirty percent of ECPs were not assigned to a tutor for clinical activities, 67% did not receive any psychotherapeutic supervision and only 19% participated in exchange programs. ECPs are globally satisfied with the training received; however, they report the need to enhance training in psychotherapy, forensic psychiatry and child and adolescent psychiatry, to ensure adequate supervision to all trainees and to improve the opportunities for international exchange programmes.