A study of patients with psychosocial problems in a family practice.

This study was conducted to test the hypothesis that family practice patients with intrapersonal psychosocial problems are likely to be identified as having more health problems in general than patients not afflicted in this way. A second general objective of the study was to provide a health profile of patients having intrapersonal problems as compared with patients who do not. The total number of patients identified as having intrapersonal problems was 321 patients, 30.5 percent of this teaching practice population, but for purposes of the study a small sample (n = 94) was randomly selected. A control group was randomly selected from patients matched by age and sex in the practice. Study group patients were found to have a significantly greater number of family problems, hospital admissions, major surgical procedures, number of visits to the practice, gastrointestinal disorders, and illness due to inflammatory causes when compared to controls. This group was also found to have received more psychiatric care, more attention from allied health professionals, and more frequent psychotropic drugs. This study suggests that family physicians care for a cohort of patients with a high frequency of psychosocial problems and that these patients have an increased use of health care services.