Background Primary care is well placed to provide preconception care. To support primary care professionals in meeting the preconception care needs of prospective parents, an understanding of their perspectives and experiences of providing preconception care is needed. As women consult with a range of primary care health professionals for preconception care, including general practitioners, midwives, and naturopaths, this study aimed to explore these health professions beliefs and attitudes towards preconception care and describe their preconception care practice behaviours in Australia. Methods Qualitative methods were employed. Focus groups and interviews with health professionals (n=18) in clinical practice (more than 5 years) within Australia were conducted between May and August 2021. Health professionals comprised GPs (n=6), midwives (n=5), and naturopaths (n=7) and were recruited through professional organisations. Fieldwork explored the practice services provided, beliefs and attitudes towards preconception care, and preconception care practice behaviours. Data analysis used a framework thematic analysis approach. Results Three major themes were identified: Defining preconception health and care (subthemes: defining preconception health and defining preconception care), Understanding primary practitioners role in preconception care (subthemes: the GPs role as central to preconception care, role is holistic, educational, and empowering and role of personal experience and gender in being a preconception care provider), and Situating preconception care in primary care practice (subthemes: preconception care patient populations, preconception care within broader health services and preconception health information sources are varied). Conclusions While health professionals shared similar views on the factors that comprise preconception health, some components of preconception health differed among the health professional groups. Although it is universally agreed that GPs are key providers of preconception care, they are not the only health professionals with a role. A wider range of health professionals could aid in meeting the preconception care needs of people of reproductive age with greater coordination among them. To improve the provision of multi-disciplinary preconception care further insights into shared and complementary responsibilities among health professionals in primary care settings are needed. Keywords Preconception care, primary care, behaviours, beliefs and attitudes, qualitative study, Australia

AS has received funding from the Naturopaths and Herbalists Association of Australia for a research project unrelated to this topic.

This research was funded by a project grant from Endeavour College of Natural Health (Grant approval number: PRO19-7927). The first author, CC, received an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship. DS is supported by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) through an NIHR Advanced Fellowship [NIHR302955] and the NIHR Southampton Biomedical Research Centre [NIHR203319]. The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care. AS is supported by an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship (FT220100610). Funding from Endeavour College of Natural Health supported the costs associated with the promotion of the study for participant recruitment and participant incentivisation and reimbursement for participation.

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The research was approved by the University of Technology Sydney Human Research Ethics Committee (ETH20-5547).

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