CONTRIBUTING REVIEWERS The editors of BMC Family Practice would like to thank all our reviewers who have contributed to the journal in Volume 16 (2015).

Twenty-four general-practice trainees were assessed at the beginning and end of their training year. They improved significantly in their factual recall and problem-solving ability. Sixteen young principals who had had an unstructured training for general practice were assessed at the same time and were initially of the same standard but their results showed no difference over the same year.

Learning about complex associations between pieces of information enables individuals to quickly adjust their expectations and develop mental models. Yet, the degree to which humans can learn higher-order information about complex associations is not well understood; nor is it known whether the learning process differs for social and non-social information. Here, we employ a paradigm in which t...

BACKGROUND Research has consistently found that favourable exchange with one's proximal social environment has positive effects on both mental health and wellbeing. Adults with physical disabilities may have fewer opportunities of favourable exchange, and therefore the effects on mental health and wellbeing may be less advantageous. The aim of this study is to systematically review quantitative...

There has been extensive conceptual and empirical work on the associations between social relations and health in recent years. However, the specific pathways through which social interactions impact on health have not been fully elucidated. The aim of this paper is to estimate associations between Leisure Time Physical Activity (LTPA) and social networks and support. Using data from a cross-se...

This article reports on a pilot vocational study programme for provision of antenatal services in the general practice environment. The concurrent evaluation study assessed practice nurses' experiences of undertaking the pilot programme, the level and applicability of the content, and the mode of delivery. General practitioners' understanding of the role of the nurse in providing antenatal serv...

General practice is recognised as the first port of call for most patients in the Australian healthcare system with GPs performing a gatekeeper role. There are more than 17,000 vocationally registered general practitioners in Australia and about 1,500 registrars currently training 1 or one GP per 974 persons. Almost all of us (82%) attend a GP at least once during any given year. GPs provide by...