Knowledge, attitude and practice of general practitioners in managing common psychological problems in Shenzhen / 中华全科医师杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To investigate the knowledge, attitude and practice of general practitioners (GPs) in Shenzhen towards managing patients with common mental health problems.Methods:It was a cross-sectional study, from September 19 to October 31, 2020, 500 GPs from 100 community health centers (CHC) in 10 districts of Shenzhen municipality were randomly selected as the research subjects by stratified random sampling; the survey was conducted by self-filled questionnaire, which included general conditions, knowledge tests of common psychological problems (generalized anxiety disorder, depressive disorder, panic attacks, sleep disorders), GPs′ attitudes to take care of common psychological problems, and GPs′ practice of caring for common psychological problems.Results:A total of 500 questionnaires were distributed and 329 valid ones were collected. In terms of knowledge, GPs had the highest accuracy of answering the characteristics of depressive disorder (97.3%, 320/329), and the lowest accuracy of case analysis of panic attacks (50.2%, 165/329). In terms of attitude, 71.1%(234/329)of GPs agreed that "common psychological problems should be taken care of",there was a statistically significant difference in attitude scores among GPs with different years of working in CHC ( Z=14.60, P=0.006). In terms of practice, the most encountered mental health problem was insomnia (91.2%, 300/329), 46.5% (153/329) of GPs would use psychological assessment scales, 52.9% (174/329) of GPs would choose direct referral, and there were statistically significant differences in attitude scores among GPs with different years of working ( Z=10.70, P=0.030) and years of working in CHC ( Z=22.14, P<0.001). Conclusions:GPs have a positive attitude in taking care of common psychological problems, but lack of knowledge and confidence. As working in CHC for more years, GPs are more inclined to care for patients with common psychological problems in practice.