Factors influencing physicians' preventive practices.

Abstract

We used data on a stratified random sample of 809 Quebec physicians to determine the extent to which the integration of prevention into medical practice was related to physicians' sociodemographic background, area of specialization, medical practice characteristics, and professional attitudes. Among factors positively associated with physicians' preventive practices were favorable attitudes toward prevention, patient education and patient-oriented activities, being in primary care medicine or in a medical specialty such as cardiology, gastroenterology, or pneumology, practicing in a public community health center on a salary basis, working in a group practice, having an office-based practice, devoting time to research activities, being older, and being a woman. Specialization in neurology, hematology, dermatology, nephrology, obstetrics-gynecology, and most notably surgery was negatively associated with preventive practices, as was working in an emergency room. Overall, the study variables explained 33% of the variance in physicians' preventive practices. The study underlines the prevailing role of attitudes in predicting physicians' preventive practices.