The family doctor and health promotion - Polish experience and perspectives

Abstract

Objectives: To find out family doctors' opinions on the role of health promotion and its possible tasks in the changing healthcare system in Poland. Methods: Survey by means of a postal, self-administered questionnaire sent to all 451 family doctors who had started working as such before 1997. Results: Of a total of 451 questionnaires sent out, 326 were filled in and returned, making the response rate 72%. The majority of respondents (92%) accept the necessity of health promotion in their daily practice and 67% would like to be supported in it by family/community nurses. The forms of health promotion most frequently used were leaflets in waiting rooms (94%) and informing patients about harmful effects of addiction (88%). Issues on health promotion, which according to our respondents should be the domain of family doctors, do not correspond with doctors' competence and personal engagement in these particular fields. The surveyed family doctors declared poor nutrition (91%), lack of physical activity (88%), alcoholism (85%), drug addiction (81%), contraception (80%), nicotinism (78%), AIDS (73%), and violence in the home (66%) to be important issues. Their feelings of competence in the above items were only 60%, 40%, 38%, 19%, 21%, 46%, 17%, and 14%, respectively. The differences between the two groups of opinions were statistically significant (p<0.001).