Parent or Guardian Perceptions of Physician Risk Counseling for Adolescents with Special Health Care Needs

• In Event: 3129 - Section on Medical Sociology Refereed Roundtables (1 hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 6. Attitudes Toward Medical Professionals

Abstract

Despite adolescence being the time of heightened risk-taking, previous research highlights adolescents with chronic conditions are not receiving adequate counseling on risk behaviors. Parents of adolescents with special healthcare needs, however, rate discussions with providers about drugs and alcohol and sexual issues as having low importance. The current study compares the caregivers’ perceptions of risk behavior counseling for adolescents with a chronic condition to their healthy counterparts. Using data from the 2016 National Survey of Children’s Health, logistic regression models were used to estimate the odds of parent reported risk counseling of the adolescent.
Caregivers report adolescents with chronic conditions no more or less likely to receive risk counseling when compared to their healthy counterparts. Previous research has demonstrated that adolescents with chronic conditions and disabilities state they are not receiving risk counseling from their primary care physicians or specialists, despite the desire for such services. Parents and guardians, however, believe they are receiving this much needed counseling. In order to ensure that we are caring for adolescents with special healthcare needs in a holistic manner, efforts should be made to ensure that parents, providers, and adolescents are included in future intervention planning. In addition, education on the need for risk counseling at younger ages should be made available to parents. Further, healthcare providers should be provided with the training and resources needed to be comfortable to engage in risk counseling with all adolescents and their parent or guardian, which previous research has indicated is a substantial barrier to these conversations.

Authors

• Jennifer Audrey Andersen, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

• Jessica Erin Morrow

• Larry Gibbs, Southern Oregon University