Counselling work in normal general practice: an analysis of Australian consultations

As counselling is potentially an area of overlap between the functions of medical practitioners and of clinical health psychologists, it is important to know exactly what counselling encompasses in primary health care. A set of 68 counselling consultations were identified from collected transcripts of normal general practice work; seven representative examples are described and analysed in this article. The major purpose of three consultations was for the general practitioner (GP) to help the patient with psychological illness or behaviour disorder, and the question of most interest was how the parties negotiated this topic and how the GPs provided help. In four other consultations the major purpose was for the GP to answer the patient's questions. The results have implications for the delivery of primary health care and the work satisfaction of GPs, as well as for the collaborative relationships which may develop between GPs and clinical health psychologists.