Family physicians’ attitude and interest toward participation in urban family physician program and related factors

INTRODUCTION: Every family physician has a key role in achieving the goals of the family physician program (FPP). Low satisfaction of physicians in certain areas of Iran and their low maintenance level in the program is quite challenging. The aims of the present study were; (1) to assess the attitude of rural/rural-urban family physicians about FPP and (2) to investigate their interest toward participation in urban FPP and (3) to explore the influencing factors. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was performed on 137 family physicians who were working in rural/rural-urban FPP in Mashhad University of Medical Sciences (Iran). A self-designed valid and reliable questionnaire including demographic data and thirty questions on the participants’ attitudes toward the FPP in Likert scale were used. Data were analyzed by multiple logistic regression models using SPSS software. RESULTS: 49.3% of physicians were interested in continuing their cooperation in the urban-FPP. The mean total attitude score was 62.18 out of 100. The highest agreement and positive attitude of physicians were related to achievements of the program goals dimension. Multiple analyses showed that gender (odds ratio [OR] =5.5; male vs. female) and employment status (OR = 16.7 and 10.9 for permanent employment and by contract compared to legal obligation, respectively) were significantly associated with physicians’ willingness toward participation in the urban-FPP. CONCLUSION: About half of the studied physicians were interested toward participation in the urban-FPP; Male physicians more than females and permanent employees more than others were willing and interested to participate in the urban-FPP.