title: Western mental health training for traditional Chinese medicine practitioners.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the impact of a Western mental health training course for Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) practitioners.
  
  
  METHODS
  A combined qualitative and quantitative approach was applied to examine the changes in the TCM practitioners' clinical practice characteristics and attitudes. Focus groups and structured questionnaire surveys were conducted to compare their responses before and after the Course.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After a 10-week training course conducted by psychiatrists and family physicians, there were significant changes in confidence of the TCM practitioners for diagnosis (33% being confident before the Course vs. 76% after the Course) and management (24% vs. 55%) of common mental health problems. The causal effects of better classifications to recognition of mental health problems were explained by the qualitative responses. Proportion of TCM practitioners being confident of referring mental health patients to other healthcare professionals doubled from 25% to 50% after the Course. Nonetheless, there was no significant change in percentage of these patients being recommended to Western doctors owing to a lack of formal referral channel.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Western mental health training for TCM practitioners has positive impact on their clinical practice. However, the practical barriers in making referrals highlight the need of closer collaboration between conventional and traditional medicine.
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine and Primary Care, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China. tplam@hku.hk
authors.forename: T P
authors.initials: TP
authors.lastname: Lam
authors.forename: K Y
authors.initials: KY
authors.lastname: Mak
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Goldberg
authors.forename: K F
authors.initials: KF
authors.lastname: Lam
authors.forename: K S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Sun
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005194:Family Practice / Q000592:standards*; D017144:Focus Groups; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008516:Medicine, Chinese Traditional / Q000523:psychology / Q000592:standards*; D010821:Physicians, Family / Q000193:education*; D011570:Psychiatry / Q000193:education*; D036301:Qualitative Research; D019366:Western World