Psychiatric morbidity in primary healthcare setting in Irbid, Jordan : prevalence, recognition and management

الملخص EN

Objectives : to determine the prevalence of psychiatric morbidity in primary healthcare setting, primary care physician's awareness and ability to recognize psychiatric disorders and the form of management applied.

Method : 380 patients, who had visited comprehensive healthcare centers in Irbid, North Jordan, during a one month period, were assessed using the Modified General Health Questionnaire (MGHQ) after being seen by general practitioners, family physicians or internists.

The physicians or internists who had examined these patients were administered the Awareness, Recognition and Management Questionnaire.

: Results while the prevalence of psychiatric disorders was 59.7 %, primary care physicians were able to recognize only 22.5 % of the psychiatrically disturbed patients.

Internists were able to recognize psychiatric disorders more frequently than general practitioners and family physicians.

Primary care physicians provided management to 50.9 % of the psychiatric patients they recognized.

Conclusions : the study findings suggested that there is a need to improve the awareness, recognition and management of psychiatric disorders at Primary Healthcare level and that certain type of patients who attended these centers were more likely to have psychiatric problems.