ORIGINAL PAPER Evaluation of GPs diagnostic knowledge and treatment practice in detection and treatment of early schizophrenia: a French postal survey in Brittany Mickael Le Galudec • Ge ´raldine Cornily • Ronan Garlante ´zec • Florian Ste ´phan • Zarrin Alavi • Michel Walter Received: 20 January 2012 / Accepted: 5 April 2013 Ó Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013 Abstract Aims Evaluating French general practitioners (GPs) diagnostic knowledge and practice in the detection and treatment of early schizophrenia as well as needs and preferences with specialist services. Methods A postal survey comprising 27 questions was conducted among 2,039 GPs from three counties of Wes- tern France. Composite scores were calculated to determine a level of diagnostic knowledge. Results A total of 515 GPs (25.3 %) responded to the survey. The mean score to determine a level of knowledge on the most important aspects in detecting early stages of schizophrenia was 5.3 ± 2.50 [median = 6 (range 0–10)]. The mean score to determine the overall knowledge of schizophrenia was 8.1 ± 2.98 [median = 8 (range 1–16)]. The majority of surveyed GPs (76.1 %) would treat early schizophrenia pharmacologically. A majority of GPs (53.9 %) advise an insufficient duration of anti-psychotic treatment for first episode psychosis. The vast majority (90.8 %) were in favour of a specialized outpatient service. Conclusions French GPs tend to have a deficit in diag- nostic knowledge and practice in detection and treatment of early schizophrenia. It seems important to provide GPs with continuing medical education (CME) on detection and management of early schizophrenia and to set up relevant specialized outpatient services. Keywords Schizophrenia Á Early diagnosis Á Primary care Á General practitioners Introduction Earlier studies on the management of schizophrenia in primary care have focused mainly on chronic psychosis: improvement of the patient’s condition, general practitio- ners (GPs) role in monitoring of the treatment, prevention of the relapse, follow-up of the patients and management of the patient’s families [1, 6, 7, 11]. In the footsteps of Falloon et al. [2], we observe an increasing need with regard to the role of GPs in the detection and management of early psychosis. Their study showed the importance of an earlier detection in primary care and an earlier management program setup. However, given the non- specificity of the symptoms, identifying patients with early schizophrenia is difficult to do. The most frequent earliest signs of schizophrenia reported by patients were restlessness, depression, anxiety, trouble with thinking and concentration, worrying, lack of self-confidence, lack of energy, slowness, poor work performance, and social withdrawal [4]. M. Le Galudec (&) Á G. Cornily Á F. Ste ´phan Á M. Walter Secteur Hospitalo-Universitaire de Psychiatrie d’Adultes, Ho ˆpital de Bohars, Centre Hospitalier Re ´gional Universitaire de Brest, Route de Ploudalme ´zeau, 29820 Bohars, France e-mail: mickael.legaludec@chu-brest.fr M. Le Galudec Á F. Ste ´phan Á M. Walter Laboratoire des Neurosciences de Brest (EA 4685), Universite ´ de Bretagne Occidentale, 29200 Brest, France R. Garlante ´zec E ´ cole des Hautes Etudes en Sante ´ Publique, 35000 Rennes, France Z. Alavi Ho ˆpital de la Cavale blanche, Centre d’Investigation Clinique, INSERM 05-02, Centre Hospitalier Re ´gional Universitaire de Brest, 29200 Brest, France M. Walter Jeune Equipe «e ´thique, professionnalisme et sante ´» (JE 2535), Universite ´ de Bretagne Occidentale, 29200 Brest, France 123 Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol DOI 10.1007/s00127-013-0686-y