Rural secondary school students living in a small community: their attitudes, beliefs and perceptions towards general practice.

Objective: To study the attitudes and beliefs towards general practice of rural secondary school students, in particular, their perception of the barriers to the effective delivery of primary health care.

Setting: Students attending a government-funded secondary school in a rural community of less than 4000 people.

Subjects: 250 students in years 7-12 were surveyed, with 177 (71%) replying, 45% of these being male.

Design: Cross-sectional, self-administered questionnaire survey.

Results: The study found that most students value general practitioners (GPs) as valuable sources of health care, feel they have reasonable access to care and in most instances appear to attend appropriately for their health problems. Most felt their doctor would be an empathetic listener, would provide sufficient time to provide effective care and communicated in a language they could understand. Confidentiality issues were considered important, especially by females.

Conclusion: Although students have very positive attitudes about general practice, the findings could be used to improve a number of GP services for young people in small rural communities. This is particularly so for presentations which require a high degree of confidentiality and skillful counselling, such as psychological problems and risk-taking behaviours.