Saudi university students' awareness and attitude towards family medicine specialty

Background: Worldwide, there is shortage of family medicine (FM) specialists and disinterest of medical students in choosing FM as a career. Saudi Arabia is facing the same problem. Objectives: The aim of this study was to know the magnitude of knowledge and attitude of Saudi medical and non-medical students towards FM specialty. Methods: A cross-sectional study was done on 708 students of Taif University using a self-administered questionnaire about socio-demographic factors, knowledge and attitude towards FM specialty. Results: Medical students showed a significant higher percentage of students who saw that FM specialty has an essential social function, has a pleasant working environment, has a high social status, is an attractive option for a medical students, is an interesting specialty from a research perspective, and is an important specialty in: disease prevention/Health promotion, family-focused health care, bio-psychosocial focus of health care, collaboration with other sectors, team work, bioethics, and urgent care. Only 6% of medical students chose FM as a future career, and the most common factor influencing the specialty preferences was the good working condition and the quality of life. Female students and older grades showed a significant higher percentage of students choosing FM as a future career. For all participants, the study reflects the bad reputation about FM specialty regarding its status within the medical profession, scientific prestige and salary. Conclusion: Medical students had better knowledge and perception of family medicine compared to non-medical students, but they had low interest in choosing it as a future career.