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Experiences and attitudes of early career psychiatrists towards ECT – an international study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 August 2024

C. Tapoi
C. Tapoi*
Affiliation:
1Department of Psychiatry, Prof. Dr. Dimitrie Gerota Emergency Hospital 2Department of Psychiatry, Prof. Dr. Alexandru Obregia Clinical Psychiatry Hospital, Bucharest, Romania
*
*Corresponding author.

Abstract

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Introduction

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a psychiatric intervention that has proven effectiveness and safety in various psychiatric conditions, such as major depressive disorder, prolonged or severe manic episodes and catatonia. Despite positive scientific evidence, ECT was always seen as controversial by patients, caregivers, and even some psychiatrists, which lead to a decrease in its use over the years.

Objective

To investigate the way young psychiatrists view the place of ECT in modern psychiatry by assessing their knowledge, attitude and access to training opportunities in ECT.

Methods

An anonymous survey was disseminated online among early career psychiatrists and psychiatric trainees. The questionnaire consisted of 36 multiple-choice and Likert scale questions.

Results

Most of our respondents consider ECT both an effective and a safe treatment option and would recommend ECT to their patients when indicated. Early career psychiatrists who had access to ECT training are more knowledgeable about the indications, precautions and side effects of this method, but more than half of the participants mentioned ECT training was unavailable during their residency programme. Almost all respondents stated that they are interested in enhancing their theoretical and practical competencies in ECT.

Conclusions

Early career psychiatrists have a positive attitude towards ECT but express the need of targeted education aimed at improving levels of knowledge about ECT.

Disclosure of Interest

None Declared

Type
Abstract
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 67 , Special Issue S1: Abstracts of the 32nd European Congress of Psychiatry , April 2024 , pp. S39 - S40
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of European Psychiatric Association
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