General practice research: attitudes and involvement of Queensland general practitioners

Abstract

Objectives: To determine general practitioners' (GPs') attitudes towards and involvement in general practice research. Design: Postal survey and semi‐structured interviews conducted from May to September 2001. Participants and setting: 467 of 631 GPs in four Queensland Divisions of General Practice responded to the survey (74% response rate); 18 selected GPs were interviewed. Main outcome measures: Survey — attitudes to research; access to information resources; and involvement in research. Interviews — the need for general practice research; barriers against and factors enabling greater participation in research. Results: 389/463 (84%) GPs, especially younger and more recent graduates, had positive attitudes to research, but only 29% wanted more involvement. 223/462 (48%) were aware they had access to MEDLINE, although presumably all those with Internet access (89%) would have free access via PubMed. Barriers included the general practice environment (especially fee‐for‐service funding), and the culture of general practice. Enabling factors included academic mentors; opportunities to participate in reputable, established research activities relevant to general practice; and access to information resources. Conclusions: Although Australian general practice has a weak research culture, about a third of GPs would like to increase their involvement in research. However, the research must be perceived as relevant, and structured to minimise the inherent barriers in the environment and culture of general practice.

Feasibility of alcohol screening among patients receiving opioid treatment in primary care

“…Recruitment issues are echoed in other primary care research [28, 29]. Recruitment in primary care has particular challenges related to the characteristics of primary care practitioners, their patients and the dispersed nature of clinics [30].…”

Patient and professional attitudes towards research in general practice: the RepR qualitative study

“…The French healthcare system should implement this type of organization, already established and successful in the UK and in the Netherlands. Basing research questions on GPs’ expectations in a bottom-up approach can improve their participation in research projects [27]. Consulting patients on research projects using a community approach can facilitate their recruitment, as experienced in an Australian primary care research network.…”

General practitioners' attitudes towards research in primary care: qualitative results of a cross sectional study

“…According to those former results, relevance of the research topic, reimbursement and compatibility with routine general practice work are important factors. Ideally the GPs are embedded in an existing research culture [7,9,10]. Study nurses or mentors could be an important factor to enhance GPs' preparedness to participate in General Practice research because they reduce the administrative workload for GPs and enhance the motivation to participate in research [8,10,11].…”

“…An unexpected quantitative result of this study was that being involved with the training of medical students and being linked with the University is not reflected per se in a higher motivation in participating in research. Participating rates of about 30 % are usually achieved in random postal mailings to GPs without academic affiliation [5,9,13,14]. Previous studies have shown that involvement in student teaching represents a positive predictive factor for participation in research, so we assumed to achieve a much higher participation rate.…”