General population knowledge and perception regarding family medicine specialty in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Background: Family medicine is a medical speciality concerned with the entire health care of the individual and the family. It incorporates biological, clinical, and behavioral sciences and its scope is not limited by age, gender, organ system, or disease entity limitations. Family physicians serve important roles in many countries' primary care systems, although family medicine (FM) is still in its early stages in Saudi Arabia.Aims: To assess the level of knowledge and perception towards family medicine among general population in Saudi Arabia.Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study included 382 participants form general population in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The responses were collected through the administration of a questionnaire in cluster 1 primary health care centers. Respondents were selected by convenient sampling technique. Data analysis was carried out by using SPSS.Results: The study group consisted of 382 respondents. Females represented 56.5% of participants and 43.5% were males. More than sixty percent of participants were aged between 18-35 years. The mean knowledge and perception score of our participants was 15±2.3 points (Range 6 – 20) and 53.5 ± 5.8 points (Range 37 – 70) respectively. In addition, we found that most of respondents showed good knowledge about family medicine specialty (62%) and only 38% of respondents revealed poor knowledge. Finally, our results demonstrated that there was no significant association between the level of knowledge, not even perception and different socio-demographic variables.Conclusion: Our findings concluded that people from Riyadh in Saudi Arabia revealed good level of knowledge and perception regarding the specialty of family medicine. Further studies and interventional educational programs are recommended.