Evaluation of knowledge, attitudes and behaviors of family physicians about specific learning disorder

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate family physicians' knowledge, attitudes and behaviors about specific learning disorders. Materials and Methods: Between 15.08.2023 and 10.10.2023, the survey form, which was created by scanning the literature and finalized with a pilot application, was applied to 314 family physicians working in Family Health Centers in various provinces in Turkey and who agreed to participate in the study, via online Google forms. In this survey, sociodemographic data of family physicians, knowledge, attitudes and behaviors of physicians participating in the survey about specific learning disorders were measured with various questions and suggestions. The collected survey data were analyzed with the SPSS 23 (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, version 23) statistical program. Statistical significance was indicated with "p" and a value of p<0.05 was considered significant. Results: A total of 314 physicians participated in our study, 57.32% (n=180) of whom were men and 42.68% (n=134) of whom were women. When they evaluated the participants' level of knowledge about specific learning disorder (SLD), 53.50% stated that they had a moderate level of knowledge. However, 30.25% of the participants evaluated their knowledge level as bad and 3.50% of the participants evaluated it as very bad. A small number of physicians evaluated themselves as good in this regard, 11.46% or very good 1.27%. While 16.24% of the participants stated that they had received training on specific learning disorders, 83.76% stated that they had not received training. 57.32% of the participants stated that they preferred to receive training because they "think that SLD is a social problem that they may encounter in their own families and environments." In addition, 79.94% of the participants stated that, as primary care physicians who encounter patients at the primary level, they would like to receive training on SLD, with the idea that patients should be diagnosed early and followed up. Some participants (8.60%) stated that SLD is not their field of expertise and therefore they do not need to receive training as they will refer patients with complaints to specialist physicians. While 62.75% of those who received training performed screening, 17.11% of those who did not receive training did so. Having received education about specific learning disorder was found to have a significant relationship with screening status (p<0.001). Conclusion: It shows that family physicians' levels of education and awareness about specific learning disorders are generally low. In particular, a significant portion of physicians have not received specific training on SLD, and this highlights the deficiencies in the training processes. In addition, their education status was found to be directly related to family physicians' ability to perform screening and refer patients to education. Additionally, false beliefs that SLD patients have low IQ levels and lack of awareness about its prevalence in society have been identified as important problems. These results emphasize the need to increase the education and awareness levels of physicians and the importance of strengthening coordination to improve attitudes in the management of SLD patients. Keywords: Specific learning disorder, family physicians, developmental screening