ORIGINAL ARTICLE Psychiatry & Psychology http://dx.doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2015.30.5.632 • J Korean Med Sci 2015; 30: 632-638 A Korean Survey on Qualities and Definition of a Good Psychiatrist Ji Hyun Kim,1 Phern-Chern Tor,2 The definition of a “good” psychiatrist has varied over the past decades due to changing Joel King,3 and Jeong Seok Seo1 roles of psychiatrists. Studies on the qualities of “good” psychiatrists have been completed in many countries. However, no such study has been undertaken in Korea. In Korea, recent 1Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Konkuk Unversity, Chungju, Korea; 2Department of growing interest in psychiatry demands the identification of qualities for a good Psychological Medicine, National University psychiatrist. The purpose of this study was to define the qualities of a good psychiatrist in Hospital, Singapore; 3Department of Psychiatry, Korea, subsequently facilitating the improvement of psychiatric training programs. The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia questionnaire was based on a Singaporean survey with the permission from the original Received: 11 September 2014 authors. Respondents were divided into patient group and psychiatrist group. The 40-item Accepted: 3 December 2014 questionnaire contained items grouped into four themes: Professional, Personal Values, Academic Executive and Relationship. Of the four themes, both patient and psychiatrist Address for Correspondence: groups considered Professional as the most important, whereas Academic Executive as the Jeong Seok Seo, MD Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Konkuk least important. The mean scores for all items of each theme in the patient group were University, 82 Gugwon-daero, Chungju 380-704, Korea higher than those in the psychiatrist group, reflecting higher expectations for good Tel: +82.43-840-8470, Fax: +82.43-845-8470 E-mail:
[email protected] psychiatrist in the patient group.