TY - JOUR T1 - Junior doctor psychiatry placements in hospital and community settings: a phenomenological study JF - BMJ Open JO - BMJ Open DO - 10.1136/bmjopen-2017-017584 VL - 7 IS - 9 SP - e017584 AU - Sharon Beattie AU - Paul E S Crampton AU - Cathleen Schwarzlose AU - Namita Kumar AU - Peter L Cornwall Y1 - 2017/09/01 UR - http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/7/9/e017584.abstract N2 - Objectives The proportion of junior doctors required to complete psychiatry placements in the UK has increased, due in part to vacant training posts and psychiatry career workforce shortages, as can be seen across the world. The aim of this study was to understand the lived experience of a Foundation Year 1 junior doctor psychiatry placement and to understand how job components influence attitudes.Design The study was conducted using a cross-sectional qualitative phenomenological approach.Setting Hospital and community psychiatry department settings in the North East of England, UK.Participants In total, 14 Foundation Year 1 junior doctors were interviewed including seven men and seven women aged between 23 and 34 years. The majority had completed their medical degree in the UK and were White British.Results The lived experience of a junior doctor psychiatry placement was understood by three core themes: exposure to patient recovery, connectedness with others in the healthcare team and subjective interpretations of psychiatry. The experiences were moderated by instances of role definition, reaction to the specialty and the organisational fit of the junior doctor capacity in the specialty.Conclusions The study reinforces and adds to the literature by identifying connectedness as being important for both job satisfaction and morale, which is currently damaged within the junior doctor population. The study provides in-depth insights into the lived experience of psychiatry placements and can be taken forward by educationalists to ensure the placements are meaningful experiences for junior doctors by developing role definition, belonging, structure and psychiatric care responsibility. ER -