title: General practitioner management of genetic aspects of a cardiac disease: a scenario-based study to anticipate providers' practices.
abstract: It is increasingly recognised that genetics will have to be integrated into all parts of primary health care. Previous research has demonstrated that involvement and confidence in genetics varies amongst primary care providers. We aimed to analyse perceptions of primary care providers regarding responsibility for genetic tasks and factors affecting those perceptions. Postal questionnaire including a hypothetical case management scenario of a cardiac condition with a genetic component was sent to random samples of medically qualified general practitioners in France, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden and UK (n = 1,168). Logistic regression analysis of factors affecting primary care practitioners' willingness to carry out genetic tasks themselves was conducted; 61% would take a family history themselves but only 38% would explain an inheritance pattern and 16% would order a genetic test. In multivariate analysis, only the country of practice was consistently predictive of willingness to carry out genetic tasks, although male gender predicted willingness to carry out the majority of tasks studied. The stage of career at which education in genetics had been provided was not predictive of willingness to carry out any of the tasks analysed. Country of practice is significantly predictive of attitudes towards genetics in primary care practice and therefore genetic education structure and content in Europe will need to be significantly tailored towards country-specific approaches.
authors.forename: Kirsty
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Challen
authors.forename: Hilary
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Harris
authors.forename: Ulf
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Kristoffersson
authors.forename: Irmgard
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Nippert
authors.forename: Joerg
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Schmidtke
authors.forename: Leo P
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Ten Kate
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Benjamin
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Anionwu
authors.forename: Anne-Marie
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Plass
authors.forename: Claire
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Julian-Reynier
authors.forename: Rodney
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Harris