Influences upon reported health promotion by family physicians

Disease prevention and the promotion of healthy life-styles have received increasing attention over the past two decades. The purpose of this study was to determine the current level of health promotional activity as reported by family physicians. In addition, the study addressed various factors which may influence the level of physician promotion of healthy life-styles. This was accomplished by means of a survey of 815 active members of the American Academy of Family Physicians. A total of 521 questionnaires was returned, providing a 64 percent response rate. The results of this survey indicate that the level of physician personal health activity tends to influence their reported professional promotion of healthy habits. In addition, residency faculty and physicians working for health maintenance organizations were significantly more likely to report offering a higher frequency of health promotional activity than physicians in private practice. Finally, age and family practice residency training appear to have no influence on self-reported physician health promotional activity.