Adolescent preventive health care: what do parents want?

OBJECTIVE

To understand parental opinions about which topics should be discussed during adolescent preventive health visits and how best to incorporate adolescent confidentiality into these visits.

STUDY DESIGN

Cross-sectional, web-based survey of a national sample of 1025 parents of adolescents.

RESULTS

Response rate was 71%. From a list of 18 possible topics, the 3 most frequently selected as being "very important for the doctor to discuss during adolescent well child examinations" were "diet/nutrition" (75%), "exercise/sports" (67%), and "physical changes of puberty" (60%). There was variability in topic popularity by parents' race/ethnicity and gender and by adolescents' age, health status, and gender. Most parents (66%) believed it was "very/somewhat" important for adolescents to have private time with the doctor during these visits, yet a substantial proportion of parents (46%) preferred that the doctor disclose to them the confidential information obtained during these private encounters.

CONCLUSIONS

Parents find numerous topics important for discussion during well adolescent health care visits suggesting that parents might value a broad range of preventive care services for adolescents. However, some parents appear conflicted about incorporating adolescent confidentiality into prevention-focused visits.