Table 6.
Relation of professional characteristics with perceived relevance (n=1330) to intended practice and self reported frequency of counselling general medicine patients (n=1394) reported during final year of US medical school (2003)
| Highly relevant to practice | Usually/always counsel | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No of students* | % of students | Crude OR (95% CI) | No of students* | % of students | Crude OR (95% CI) | ||
| Intended specialty: | |||||||
| Primary care | 406 | 59 | 2.3 (1.8 to 3.0) | 421 | 29 | 1.1 (0.8 to 1.4) | |
| Non-primary care | 887 | 39 | 1.0 (ref) | 935 | 27 | 1.0 (ref) | |
| Training in alcohol counselling: | |||||||
| Extensive | 451 | 59 | 2.3 (1.7 to 3.2) | 455 | 40 | 2.3 (1.6 to 3.3) | |
| Less than extensive | 835 | 39 | 1.0 (ref) | 857 | 22 | 1.0 (ref) | |
| Confidence in alcohol counselling: | |||||||
| Highly confident | 663 | 55 | 2.2 (1.6 to 3.0) | 680 | 36 | 2.5 (1.7 to 3.6) | |
| Less than highly | 631 | 36 | 1.0 (ref) | 672 | 19 | 1.0 (ref) | |
| I will be able to provide more credible and effective counselling if I drink alcohol in moderation or not at all: | |||||||
| Strongly agree | 306 | 57 | 1.0 (ref) | 317 | 37 | 1.0 (ref) | |
| Agree | 721 | 44 | 0.6 (0.4 to 0.8) | 747 | 26 | 0.6 (0.5 to 0.8) | |
| Neither | 197 | 33 | 0.4 (0.2 to 0.6) | 214 | 21 | 0.4 (0.3 to 0.7) | |
| Disagree/strongly disagree | 79 | 48 | 0.7 (0.5 to 1.1) | 81 | 301 | 0.7 (0.4 to 1.4) | |
| Patients are more likely to adopt healthier lifestyles if physicians counsel them to do so: | |||||||
| Strongly agree | 232 | 55 | 1.0 (ref) | 239 | 38 | 1.0 (ref) | |
| Agree | 810 | 44 | 0.7 (0.5 to 0.9) | 844 | 25 | 0.6 (0.4 to 0.8) | |
| Neither | 176 | 39 | 0.5 (0.3 to 0.9) | 190 | 28 | 0.7 (0.3 to 1.3) | |
| Disagree/ strongly disagree | 79 | 48 | 0.8 (0.4 to 1.4) | 80 | 28 | 0.6 (0.3 to 1.3) | |
| I am less interested in prevention than treatment: | |||||||
| Strongly agree | 77 | 32 | 1.0 (ref) | 82 | 28 | 1.0 (ref) | |
| Agree | 293 | 39 | 1.3 (0.8 to 2.2) | 308 | 26 | 0.9 (0.6 to 1.4) | |
| Neither | 285 | 39 | 1.3 (0.8 to 2.2) | 302 | 25 | 0.9 (0.5 to 1.5) | |
| Disagree | 488 | 48 | 2.0 (1.02 to 3.7) | 503 | 27 | 0.9 (0.5 to 1.7) | |
| Strongly disagree | 156 | 70 | 4.8 (2.2 to 10.5) | 159 | 41 | 1.8 (0.95 to 3.3) | |
| Physicians have a responsibility to promote prevention with their patients: | |||||||
| Strongly agree | 340 | 56 | 2.3 (1.5 to 3.5) | 352 | 36 | 2.6 (1.3 to 5.1) | |
| Agree | 831 | 43 | 1.4 (1.05 to 1.8) | 858 | 26 | 1.6 (0.8 to 3.0) | |
| Neither disagree/ strongly disagree | 124 | 35 | 1.0 (ref) | 142 | 18 | 1.0 (ref) | |
*Denominator for percent displayed. Numbers for various characteristics might not sum to n for relevance or frequency because of item non-response for those characteristics.