Shared Care Family Physician Satisfaction with Mental Health Services: Findings from a Community Survey

health services Greater attention is now being focused on the familyphysician’s role in providing mental health care. As many as 40 per cent of individuals seen in primary care have identifiable mental health problems (1), and family physicians are often the first point of contact with the mental health system (1,2). Data from the mental health supplement to the 1990 Ontario Mental Health Survey re-vealed that 35 per cent of individuals will receive mental health care from their family physician only (compared with 40 per cent only in the specialized sector), even though the severity and duration of these problems are similar to those of individuals being seen in the special-ized sector (3). Despite family physicians ’ key role in delivering mental health care, many problems have been identified in rela