THE BEHAVIOR OF ITALIAN FAMILY PHYSICIANS REGARDING THE HEALTH-PROBLEMS OF WOMEN AND, IN PARTICULAR, FAMILY-PLANNING (BOTH CONTRACEPTION AND NFP)

The hospital-centered trend that has dominated medical culture and the management of health care during this entire century has, in the last few years, undergone a reversal in Italy. Conditions in other countri es suggest that similar changes have or will become increasingly commo n. The family physician today manages many of the functions previously handled by hospitals and specialists. In the held of reproductive hea lth, family physicians are responsible not only for diagnosis and trea tment, but also for prevention and education. The present study consid ers this new context with the objective of investigating the knowledge and behavior of Italian family physicians in the field of women's hea lth, with particular regard to family planning (including natural fami ly planning), through (1) a qualitative study (focus groups) of a smal l group of family physicians and (2) a questionnaire sent to 500 famil y physicians throughout Italy The results of the focus group are summa rized in the form of obstacles that the family physician finds in prov iding family planning services and proposals for change. The results i ndicate that because of their holistic approach, the family physician is an appropriate provider of family planning services although contin ued use of specialists' services, changes in logistics of the family p hysicians' practice, increased gender sensitivity, and additional trai ning and information are necessary. The results of the questionnaire ( 121 responses, 24.2%) indicate that the Italian family physician curre ntly lacks certain important information about family planning and wou ld require logistical support to provide these services but is interes ted in acquiring information and is an appropriate family planning pro vider. An additional challenge for encouraging family practitioners to provide natural methods is that they favor a ''medical'' approach rat her than a ''behavioral'' one in their treatment preferences for sever al other conditions.