The Use of Parenting Electives in Pediatric Residency

Background: Financial considerations and the desire to not prolong training often influence residents’ parental leave length. Some residencies offer parenting electives. These primarily self-directed electives can extend parental time at home, support transition back to work, and allow residents to remain in training and be paid during these transitions. Objective: Describe the prevalence and structure of parenting electives within pediatric residency programs from 3 geographic regions of the Association of Pediatric Program Directors (APPD). Methods: All 66 pediatric residency program directors in the Western, Mid-America, and Northeastern regions of APPD were invited to participate in a phone interview regarding existence of and structure of their programs’ parenting elective. Results: Thirty-six programs responded (55%). Of those, 24 (67% of responding programs) offer a specific parenting elective and an additional 5 (14%) offer a generic elective that can be tailored to new parents. Curricular elements shared by almost all programs offering specific parenting electives include self-reflective exercises, exploration of a community resource, and parenting articles/book review. Most programs incorporate clinic but not call into these electives. Conclusion: Parenting electives are increasingly available in pediatric residency programs to support new resident parents. Sharing common curricular elements may help other programs implement and/or enhance this elective offering.