Relevance of research in general practice in France: a national survey

Background. While nearly 30% of GPs say they want to invest in research in GP, they are concerned about the possible development of a professional "off-ground" research. Objective. To measure the relevance of French research in general practice, as perceived by general practitioners. Methodology. A cross-sectional web survey has been conducted among general practitioners and family medicine interns. Three researchers extracted the main objectives and results of all oral communications of the 2015 annual conference of the National college of general practice teachers and the 2016 annual conference of the National college of general practice. At each connection, the questionnaire presented to the physician a randomized set of 24 study objectives and results and asked to assess their relevance with a 4 items Likert scale. Results. Between March 30th and July 11th, 2016, 205 respondents completed the survey: 52% were females, 28% teachers and their mean age was 37 years. GPs judged as "rather" or "completely" relevant 91.1% of the objectives (IC95 = 87.4 - 94.8) and 87.6% of the results (IC95 = 83.3 - 91.9). No association was found between perceived relevance and studies' or respondents' characteristics. Conclusion. In a context of emergence of general practice in the university, general practice studies were considered as relevant by the majority of general practitioners, without difference given the characteristics of the studies or physicians.