This paper describes some of the difficulties faced by the KCGP Mental
Health Education Fellows in designing an educational initiative to en
hance the recognition and management of psychiatric illness in general
practice. The initiative was evaluated using a consensus technique ov
er six meetings which took place between 1993 and 1995. The results of
the exercise illustrated the value of utilizing a validated instrumen
t in identifying mental health problems, but when employed without sup
port created disillusionment and a lack of confidence in the learner.
However, when the instrument was applied as part of a wide educational
process examining current practice, learners were stimulated to exami
ne and change their behaviour by synthesizing newly acquired knowledge
with their own previous clinical experience.