General practitioners' attitudes to prevention

SIX questions about general practitioners' views on prevention were incorporated into a questionnaire that was completed by 424 (81%) of Avon's general practitioners. The great majority of the doctors agreed that they had a role in health promotion, but there was evidence of some apprehension about patients' possible negative reactions to preventive advice. This concern about patient rejection may be behind the large number of opportunities for health promotion that are apparently being missed by gen eral practitioners. Older doctors generally appear less enthusiastic about health promotion, which may again indicate their unwillingness to disturb long- established doctor-patient relationships or may, more likely, be simply an indication of less evangeli cal beliefs and changes in both knowledge and medi cal teaching.