General practitioners' knowledge, attitudes and practices towards health promotion in Morocco

• Published in: The Nigerian postgraduate medical journal Vol. 30; no. 3; pp. 226 - 231
• Main Authors: Mansoury, Ouassim, Essoli, Samira, Kachkouch, Hamza, Mansouri, Adil, Adarmouch, Latifa, Amine, Mohamed, Sebbani, Majda
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Mumbai Wolters Kluwer India Pvt. Ltd 01.07.2023; Medknow Publications and Media Pvt. Ltd; Medknow Publications & Media Pvt. Ltd; Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications
• Subjects: Analysis; Family medicine; general practitioners; Health care industry; health education; Health promotion; Medicine; morocco; Physical fitness; Physicians (General practice); Practice; primary healthcare services; Social networks; Surveys; Morocco; health education; health promotion; primary healthcare services; Morocco; General practitioners
• ISSN: 1117-1936; 2468-6875
• DOI: 10.4103/npmj.npmj_83_23

Background: Health promotion (HP) is a part of the general practitioners' (GPs) competencies defined by the World Organization of Family Doctors. The implementation of HP in their practice is unsatisfactory. Aims: The aim of this study was to explore GPs knowledge, attitudes and practices in Morocco about HP at the primary healthcare services. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using an online self-administrated questionnaire including, knowledge, attitudes and practices of GPs toward HP. Descriptive and bivariate analyses were conducted. Results: Two hundred and forty GPs responded to our questionnaires, the sex ratio was 1.12 with an average age of 40.46 ± 9.05 years. More than half of our participants perceived HP as a concept indistinct from prevention, 70.4% believed that HP refers to the biomedical model. On a Likert scale of 1-5, the level of HP knowledge was 2.71 ± 1.13. The most discussed topics with the population were tobacco, alcohol, overweight and obesity. Statistically significant association was found between the competencies of GPs in lifestyle behaviours and the practice of this competence. Conclusion: The knowledge of GPs remains insufficient, and their practices focus more on the areas in which they feel competent, which requires the implementation of specific training for the development of GPs skills in HP.