Homophobia Among Psychiatric Residents, Family Practice Residents and Psychiatric Faculty

Abstract

As the number of AIDS cases has continued to increase, psychiatric research has focused on the victims of this disease. Little has been written about the caregivers and the impact that their attitudes have on patients. There have been a few studies measuring attitudes of health care providers to homosexuals and AIDS patients, but to the best of our knowledge, none have looked at the attitudes of psychiatrists or residents in psychiatry. Psychiatric residents, family practice residents and psychiatric faculty in a medium-sized Canadian medical school completed a questionnaire measuring attitudes toward homosexuals. We report on the results of this questionnaire and comment on the impact of the attitudes of health care professionals on the quality of patient care.