title: Illness behaviour of general practitioners-a cross-sectional survey.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  International guidelines recommend that physicians should be registered with a general practitioner (GP) and should avoid self-treatment. Adherence to these recommendations is mixed.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To describe illness behaviour and chronic medical conditions of GPs in Germany.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional, observational questionnaire study. We contacted 1000 GPs by mail in April 2014. We asked about registration with a GP, chronic conditions and self-treatment. We undertook descriptive statistical analysis and analysed associations using t-tests and chi-square test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Two hundred and eighty-five responses (29%) were eligible for analysis. Nineteen per cent of GPs were registered as patients of a GP, 58% reported at least one chronic condition, 68% disclosed self-diagnosis and 60% self-treatment. Self-therapy for chronic conditions was inversely correlated with subjective severity of the disease (r = -0.159; P < 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The high rates of self-treatment and the low rate of registration with a GP of German GPs are in contrast to international guideline recommendations. Further research is needed to analyse specific reasons.
authors.affiliation: Institute of General Practice and Family Medicine, Friedrich Schiller University, School of Medicine, Jena University Hospital, D-07743 Jena, Germany sven.schulz@med.uni-jena.de.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Schulz
authors.affiliation: Technische Universität Dresden, Institute of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Chemnitzer Str. 46, D-01187 Dresden, Germany.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Einsle
authors.affiliation: Institute of General Practice and Family Medicine, Friedrich Schiller University, School of Medicine, Jena University Hospital, D-07743 Jena, Germany.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Schneider
authors.affiliation: Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Radboud Institute of Health Sciences, PO Box 9101, 6500HB Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wensing
authors.affiliation: Institute of General Practice and Family Medicine, Friedrich Schiller University, School of Medicine, Jena University Hospital, D-07743 Jena, Germany.|Institute of General Practice/Family Medicine, University Hospital of LMU Munich, Pettenkoferstr. 8a/10, 80336 München, Germany.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gensichen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D058005:General Practitioners / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D055809:Illness Behavior; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012648:Self Care / Q000523:psychology / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Chronic condition; general practitioner; illness behaviour; physician health; self-treatment.