Attitudes of physicians and nurses towards health prevention and promotion activities in Primary Care

Objective: To determine the attitudes of physicians and registered nurses in the Andalusian Public Health System towards preventive and health promotion (PHP) interventions in the context of Primary Health Care and the relationship with occupational variables and self-reported competence in PHP. Design: Multicenter, observational, descriptive study. Location: Primary Health Care (PHC), Andalusia, Spain. Participants: A total of 282 professionals (physicians and nurses) from 22 Healthcare centers of the Andalusian public health system and who participated in the validation of CAPPAP were included. Principal measurements: The attitude of physicians and registered nurses towards PHP activities consisted of five dimensions: improvements necessary, perception of peers attitude, importance, obstacles, and improvement opportunities. The validated CAPPAP questionnaire was used. Occupational variables and questions about self-reported competence in PHP were also included. Results: All dimensions of CAPPAP exceeded the midpoint of the scale (2.5), with their values varying between 3.06 (SD: 0.76) in "improvement necessary", and 4.39 (SD: 0.49) in "importance". The self-declared social, occupational, and competences variables have a statistically significant relationship with the dimensions of the attitude of the professionals except: job experience in PHC, training and implementation of scheduled PHP activities. Conclusions: The attitudes of physicians and registered nurses towards PHP activities are acceptable, and work must be done to sustain it. Healthcare organizations should implement interventions adapted to different professional profiles. They should also increase activities to improve professional skills in order to provide the appropriate care. (C) 2014 Elsevier Espana, S.L.U. All rights reserved.