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A survey of general practitioners’ knowledge of symptoms and epidemiology of schizophrenia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 April 2020

Hélène Verdoux ,
Audrey Cougnard ,
Sabrina Grolleau ,
Rachel Besson  and
Françoise Delcroix
Hélène Verdoux*
Affiliation:
Université Victor Segalen Bordeaux 2, Hôpital Charles-Perrens, 121, rue de la Béchade, 33076Bordeaux cedex, France Inserm U 657, IFR99 of Public Health, Bordeaux, France
Audrey Cougnard
Affiliation:
Université Victor Segalen Bordeaux 2, Hôpital Charles-Perrens, 121, rue de la Béchade, 33076Bordeaux cedex, France Inserm U 657, IFR99 of Public Health, Bordeaux, France
Sabrina Grolleau
Affiliation:
Université Victor Segalen Bordeaux 2, Hôpital Charles-Perrens, 121, rue de la Béchade, 33076Bordeaux cedex, France Inserm U 657, IFR99 of Public Health, Bordeaux, France
Rachel Besson
Affiliation:
Université Victor Segalen Bordeaux 2, Hôpital Charles-Perrens, 121, rue de la Béchade, 33076Bordeaux cedex, France UMR5036 Société, Santé, Développement, Bordeaux, France
Françoise Delcroix
Affiliation:
Université Victor Segalen Bordeaux 2, Hôpital Charles-Perrens, 121, rue de la Béchade, 33076Bordeaux cedex, France UMR5036 Société, Santé, Développement, Bordeaux, France
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail address: helene.verdoux@u-bordeaux2.fr (H. Verdoux).
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Abstract

Objective

To explore general practitioners' (GPs) knowledge of the symptoms and epidemiology of schizophrenia, and the GPs' characteristics associated with level of knowledge.

Methods

Survey questionnaires exploring practice in patients with early psychosis were mailed to all GPs in South-Western France (N = 3829). GPs were asked to fill out questions anonymously on the symptoms and epidemiology of schizophrenia.

Results

The response rate was 23.6%. GPs had a fair theoretical knowledge of schizophrenia symptoms, but underestimated the prevalence and the risk of suicide. Recent attendance at a continuing medical education (CME) course on schizophrenia was the main predictor of level of knowledge on epidemiological figures, although its impact was relatively modest. Regarding risk factors, the implication of genetic factors was considered as null or modest by more than half of the GPs, while a large proportion of them stated that mother–baby interactional disturbances were frequently implicated in the aetiology of the disorder.

Conclusions

GPs' level of knowledge on the public health impact and risk factors for schizophrenia needs to be improved in order to promote the delivery of accurate and destigmatising information to primary care patients.

Keywords

SchizophreniaPrimary careMedical knowledgeMedical education
Type
Original articles
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 21 , Issue 4 , June 2006 , pp. 238 - 244
Copyright
Copyright © European Psychiatric Association 2006

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