SELF-HELP GROUPS - FAMILY PHYSICIANS ATTITUDES, AWARENESS, AND PRACTICES

OBJECTIVE To assess Ontario family physicians' attitudes toward, aware ness of, and practices related to self-help groups in general and canc er self-help groups specifically. DESIGN Mailed survey using a modifie d Dillman method. SETTING Ontario family practices. PARTICIPANTS A ran dom sample of 1500 Ontario members of the College of Family Physicians of Canada, of whom 949 responded. A total of 911 completed questionna ires were received, for an eligible response rate of 64%. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Physician demographics, practice characteristics; extent of awareness of self-help groups and their perceived value; attitudes tow ard self-help groups; practices related to interactions with patients about self-help groups. RESULTS Only 40.2% of respondents were aware o f six or more self-help groups in their region; 56.8% were aware of at least one cancer self-help group. Discussions with patients about gro ups were reported as occurring ''frequently'' by 12% of respondents, w ho indicated they made referrals to an array of groups. Ratings of gro up helpfulness were relatively high (83.8% scoring 3, 4, or 5 on a 5-p oint scale, where 5 is ''very helpful''). There were low ratings of po tential harm (1% scoring 4 or 5 on a 5-point scale, where 5 is ''very harmful''). Confidence intervals for proportions reported on in this p aper were all within 4%. CONCLUSIONS Family physicians have predominan tly positive attitudes about the potential benefits of self-help group s, and many are recommending groups to their patients.