118. Important Health And Parenting Topics Caregivers of Adolescents Want More Guidance On In The Primary Care Setting

Abstract

Primary care can be an important setting for caregivers to receive additional guidance regarding their adolescent’s health, parenting and positive family development. The purpose of this study was to explore health and parenting topics caregivers wished to receive more guidance on from their adolescent’s primary care provider. The study sample included caregivers of adolescents (ages 12-18) who attended an outpatient pediatric clinic in Marion County, Indiana (Jun. 2017 – Aug. 2017) and had completed a computer-generated health risk screener. Caregivers were invited to participate in a phone survey within 48 hours of the clinic visit. The survey instrument collected demographic data and asked caregivers to rank various health topics (e.g., sex, stress management) and parenting topics (e.g., communication, discipline) in terms of importance on a Likert scale (not important (1) to very important (3)). Participants were encouraged to provide additional health or parenting information they wished to receive from their adolescent’s provider. Descriptive statistics and qualitative analysis were used to determine the outcomes of the study. In total, 104 caregivers completed the survey, most of the participants were female (93.3%), a large majority were African American (70.2%), and the average age was 41.76 years (SD = 9.66). The demographics of the teen patient were as follows: 51% male, 75% African American, mean age 14.58 years (SD = 1.86). From a list of 15 health topics, caregivers ranked “mental health” as the highest in terms of importance (M = 2.69, SD = 0.58), and “help with mobile technology” as the lowest (M = 2.19, SD = 0.85). Sixty-four (61.5%) caregivers reported wanting additional health related information from their adolescent’s provider. Based on qualitative analysis of free text responses, caregivers wanted more information regarding general teen health (28%), nutrition and exercise (19%), mental health (17%), sexual health (16%), behavioral concerns (13%), and academic concerns (6%). Interestingly, 13% of caregivers reported their adolescent’s provider already covers everything within a visit. In terms of importance of parenting topics, caregivers ranked “communication” as the most important parenting topic (M = 2.49, SD = 0.77) and “discipline” as the least (M = 2.14, SD = 0.85). Forty (38.5%) caregivers wished to receive additional parenting related information from their adolescent’s provider. Specifically, they wanted more information about: relational aspects of parenting (23%), counseling teen on nutrition and exercise (13%), difficult conversations with teen (i.e., sex, divorce, etc) (13%), normal teen development (13%), dealing with violence (10%), stress management (8%), parental monitoring (5%), health concerns (5%), and other (3%). No differences were found between caregivers who reported wanting more health or parenting information from their adolescent’s provider and those who reported not needing any additional information. Caregivers of adolescents report many health and parenting topics as important and wish to speak with their adolescent’s primary care provider about these topics. Incorporating additional information about these topics in primary care visits could improve the caregivers experience and provide them with additional resources for supporting their teen’s health and positive family development.