Abstract
Attitudes of final-year medical students, resident doctors, and primary health care doctors toward family medicine in Iraq: a cross-sectional study
Department of Family and Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Kufa, Kufa, Iraq
Al Najaf Health Directorate, Public Health Department, Alkawther Primary Health Care Center, Al Najaf, Iraq
Family Medicine & Primary Care Review 2026; 28(2): 132–139
Background
Family medicine is a medical specialty that provides individuals and families with continuous, comprehensive, and person-centered health care across all ages and disease spectrums. In Iraq, the healthcare system remains predominantly hospital based, and family medicine is still underrepresented despite its importance for strengthening primary health care.
Objectives
To investigate attitudes toward family medicine among medical students, resident doctors, and primary healthcare doctors and to identify associated sociodemographic factors.
Material and methods
This was a cross-sectional study conducted from January 2021 to January 2022 and included a convenient sample of 311 final-year medical students, resident doctors and primary healthcare doctors. Data were collected through an electronic questionnaire. Participants’ perceptions were arranged on a 5-point Likert scale. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 26, and a p-value equal to or less than 0.05 was considered significant.
Results
The mean attitude score toward family medicine was 60.23 ± 9.9 (range: 24 to 90 out of 108). Based on responses to the general attitude item, 120 participants (38.6%) expressed a favorable attitude toward family medicine. Descriptive analyses showed that older participants had higher mean scores than younger participants (62.8 vs 59.3), females scored higher than males (61.2 vs 58.6), divorced or married doctors scored higher than single doctors (67.4, 62.8 vs 58.7), and participants with children tended to have higher scores, with a trend of increasing scores as the number of children increased (59.1 for those without children to 65.3 for those with 3–4 children). Participants whose partners were doctors and those working in primary health care also had higher mean scores. However, no sociodemographic variable remained a significant predictor in multivariable analysis.
Conclusions
These findings suggest that attitudes toward family medicine may be closely related to personal experiences, specialty exposure, and other non-demographic factors.
Keywords
attitude, family practice, attitude of health personnel, Iraq
