Lifestyle consultation in general practice--the doctor's toolbox: a qualitative focus group study.

Background: GPs consider individual lifestyle counselling as part of their obligation. There is a lack of knowledge about how such counselling is done.

Objective: To investigate what tools GPs utilize in individual consultations concerning lifestyle change.

Methods: Qualitative analysis of six focus groups with 50 GPs sharing and commenting each other's case stories.

Results: To enhance change of lifestyle, GPs adjusted the organization of their practice and utilized visualization tools. They established doctor-patient relationships based on shared decision making and trust, and gave their patients advice and tips to accomplish change, but also used paternalistic approaches and rhetoric manipulation.

Conclusions: GPs use a variety of tools in consultations about lifestyle change. A patient-centred approach is shown, but GPs also deliberately use distressing communication tools.