Improving health centre physicians' child-psychiatric networks

Abstract

Objective. To study changes in Finnish GPs' child-psychiatric networks over a one-year period. Design. Postal questionnaire. Setting. Health centres in the area of Tampere University Hospital with a catchment population of one million. Intervention. A one-off course in the field of child psychiatry was held 56 times in different health centres. Subjects. GPs (n=761) working in the area received a questionnaire in 2000 and 2001. Those responding in both years were included in the analysis (n=371). Main outcome measures. A fill-in picture was used to identify professionals in the network of each GP. Three levels were analysed: (1) health centre, (2) municipality, and (3) secondary healthcare. Results. The number of collaborators increased significantly only in the training group at municipality level. No statistically significant differences were found in proportions of GPs naming cooperating persons. Conclusion. The impact of a one-off training programme on the scope of GPs' child-psychiatric networks was not very strong but was in accordance with the aims of the programme. © 2005 Taylor & Francis.