Introduction:

Multimorbidity (MM) is becoming ever prevalent, and its management is associated with a higher burden in general practice/family medicine (GP/FM). Patient-centered medicine (PCM) is about recognizing the patient from a holistic perspective, promoting adherence to treatment, and improving health outcomes. Physicians’ well-being and sound mental health are important factors in patient’s provided care, particularly in understanding the patient and valuing illness.

Objectives:

To assess if the burden of the management of MM was associated with a less felt practice of PCM and to worst mental health (anxiety and depression) amongst GP/FM physicians.

Methods:

An observational, cross-sectional study was conducted in a convenience sample of GP/FM physicians by an online questionnaire in dedicated professional sites with the factor «Consultation management» of the Questionnaire of Evaluation of Burden of Management of Multimorbidity in General and Family Medicine (SoGeMM-MGF), the dimension «Understanding the whole person» of the Questionnaire of Self-Awareness of Performing Patient-Centered Medicine in General Practice/Family Medicine (PCM), and the Patient Health Questionnaire-4 (PHQ-4), in August of 2021. For all questionnaires, a higher score means better results.

Results:

Sample of n=151, 72.2% women (n=109) and 45.0% up to 35 years (n=68). We found a negative and significant correlation between the total score of SoGeMM-MGF and PCM (ρ=-0.220; p=0.007) and a positive and significant correlation between the total score of SoGeMM-MGF and PHQ-4 (ρ=0.320; p<0.001.

Conclusion:

In this study, the burden of management of multimorbidity was associated with a lower self-awareness of performing PCM and a higher level of distress (symptoms of anxiety and depression) of GP/FM physicians.

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