GP club: Using social media for socially distanced GP peer support

Abstract

A new generation of general practitioners has embraced social media for the purposes of peer support, ranging from Facebook groups to less public-facing messaging applications such as Telegram and WhatsApp. This growing trend moves away from traditional forms of peer support, such as Balint groups, long relied upon for support in general practice. We explore the pros and cons of being involved in such groups through members who kindly shared their experiences via an online questionnaire.