The Opinions of Family Physicians about Family Counseling

Objective: As of mission, Family physician is responsible for all the health problems of the family members. In this sense, it is necessary to counsel individuals and families in need. In this study, it is aimed to evaluate the knowledge and thoughts of family physicians about family counseling in Turkey. Methods: The Research was conducted among the family physicians working in Turkey in 2013. In order to get demographic characteristics, opinions and suggestions of the family physicians about family counseling, a questionnaire was developed by the researchers. The survey was administered to the participants via the internet. Data from 421 participants were evaluated. Results: The mean age of participants was 41.7 ± 7.2 years. 67.1% of them were male and 32.9% female. Of the participants, while 11.3% stated that they received training in family counseling, 88.7% stated not received. When the frequency of family counseling need was questioned, 3.4% of the participants pointed out that they have never needed, 44% is rarely needed, 39.9% frequently needed, 12.7% very frequently needed. Of the family physicians, while 21.7% was thinking that they are competent about solving family problems, 78.3% was not competent. Meanwhile, 76.3% of family physicians wanted to have training on the family counseling, while 23.7% stated that they do not want. Conclusion: It was found that there is a shortage of training of the family physicians on the subject of family counseling. In order to compensate this shortage, it would be beneficial to include the subject of family counseling in the curriculum of medical faculty and arrange in-service training to the family doctors working in the primary care.