Chinese non-psychiatric hospital doctors’ attitudes toward management of psychological/psychiatric problems

Chinese non-psychiatric hospital doctors’ attitudes toward management of psychological/psychiatric problems

BMC Health Services Research, August 2017

28830543

Jun Wang, Qun Wang, Inoka Wimalaratne, David Benjamin Menkes, Xiaoping Wang

Psychiatric comorbidities are common among patients treated for physical disorders. Attitudes of non-psychiatric doctors toward psychological/psychiatric problems have significant implications for care provision in the general hospital setting. Our objective was to investigate non-psychiatric doctors' attitudes in China. An anonymous online questionnaire pertaining to relevant attitudes was distributed to Chinese hospital-based non-psychiatric doctors using a mobile App. A total of 306 non-psychiatric doctors in China voluntarily completed the questionnaire. All but two (99.3%) respondents agreed with the importance of psychological factors underlying physical illness and 85.6% agreed they had a high degree of responsibility for management of patients' emotional problems. Most respondents endorsed routine assessment of patients' psychological factors and were willing to consider psychiatric referrals for patients in need; despite 52.0% believing that mental health care by general hospital doctors was impractical. Almost all respondents welcomed more contact with psychiatric services and indicated a need for more time and professional help to manage psychological issues. Respondents' demographic characteristics and vocational status had some influence on attitudes; female doctors were more likely and surgeons less likely to consider psychological assessment and emotional care for patients with physical illness. More doctors working in hospitals with established consultation-liaison psychiatric services did not feel responsible for their patients' emotional care (17.7% vs. 6.6%, P = 0.012). Our pilot survey demonstrates a potential generally positive attitude toward management of patients' psychological problems and an urgent need for more time and specialist support for non-psychiatric doctors in China.