Preventive care in Canterbury general practice

Aims. To describe the preventive care attitudes, beliefs, priorities and sy stems of Canterbury general practitioners, to compare their beliefs about a ppropriate care with evidence-based guidelines and to investigate possible associations between preventive care beliefs and attitudes, and selected pr actitioner variables. Method. A questionnaire was mailed to all 375 general practitioners in Cant erbury, with a response rate of 70%. Results. Respondents expressed positive attitudes to preventive care, their views about appropriate care corresponding well to United States Preventiv e Services Task Force recommendations. The responses of practitioners who h ad qualified more recently were closer to the recommendations, with these p ractitioners more likely to want to carry out more preventive care. Members hip of an independent practice association or the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners was associated with more positive attitudes to pr eventive care and with believing more interventions to be appropriate. Rela tively few preventive interventions appeared to be offered to patients in a systematic way. Conclusions. Canterbury general practitioners were well-informed about, and interested in carrying out, more preventive care. Preventive care delivery could be enhanced in many practices by the adoption of a more systematic a pproach.