Mental health training in primary care. Impact on physicians knowledge

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to measure changes in the Primary Health Care (PHC) physicians’ knowledge towards mental illnesses after a short-term training course.

METHODS: The interventive study consisted of a sample of 31 PHC physicians randomly selected from different PHC centers in Eastern Saudi Arabia. The physicians were exposed to a 4-day intensive training course in mental illnesses in June 1999. They were assessed using multiple choice questions testing before (pre-test) and after (post-test) to assess their knowledge regarding mental illnesses.

RESULTS: The analysis of the accumulated data indicated that there was a significant improvement in the PHC physicians’ knowledge of mental illnesses after the course (p<0.0001). The effect of recall bias was excluded in the post-test evaluation. In addition, multiple regression analysis indicated that the undergraduate psychiatric training courses had a positive contribution in both pre- and post-tests.

CONCLUSION: The authors surmised that a mental training course could improve the knowledge base of PHC physicians. Furthermore, by giving substantial weight to the undergraduate and internship psychiatric training might improve the delivery of mental health services at the PHC level.