26. PEDIATRIC RESIDENCY LEADERSHIPS’ ATTITUDES AND CURRENT PRACTICES TOWARD PARENTING-FOCUSED CURRICULA

Background Pediatricians are uniquely well-positioned to promote strong parent-child relationships and optimal child development, however, they may be less likely to do so if they receive no formal training in this area. No study has evaluated current resident education on parenting or pediatric residency leaderships’ view on the importance of training residents on parenting. Objective To assess pediatric residency leaders’ attitudes about educating residents on parenting skills and current training and desired curricula on parenting. Methods A 21-item survey was sent to the members of the Association for Pediatric Program Directors via email in May, 2017. Results 53 of the 206 program directors (26%) and 85 of the 418 Associate Program Directors (20%) completed the survey. 100% of respondents reported it was important to train residents about parenting skills, with 58% reporting it was “very important.” However, only 11% reported training residents “very well” and 24% reported educating resident “not very well” in this area. Chi-square tests showed no significant difference in response to these two questions based on respondent's role, specialist vs generalist, or type of program. No statistically significant association was seen between the importance respondents accorded parenting education and the perceived quality of their program's training on parenting. Curricula most often used by programs included Bright Futures (91%) and Healthy Steps (28%). Among those who reported that their programs did not train residents very well on parenting, 88% reported one barrier was not having a curriculum. Desired parenting topics were discipline (95%), promoting self-regulation in children (82%), sleep training (82%), tantrums (79%), promoting language development (71%), toilet training (70%), promoting secure attachment (66%), promoting school readiness skills (64%), and promoting literacy (53%). Conclusion Pediatric leadership values training residents on parenting, however few report educating residents very well in this area, with lack of curricula as a major barrier.