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Toward Youth Friendly Services: A Survey of Young People in Primary Care

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Abstract

Background

The World Health Organization encourages the development of youth friendly services, yet little is known on how youth currently present in general practice.

Objective

To describe the perspectives, expectations, and service receipt of young people presenting to family doctors to inform the development of youth friendly services.

Design

Cross-sectional survey.

Participants and measurements

Consecutive young people attending 26 randomly selected practices were recruited in the waiting rooms. Standardized instruments were used to interview them before their consultation.

Results

Of 501 young people who were approached, 450 participated (91% participation rate). Most had respiratory (26%) or dermatological complaints (18%). When asked to assess their health status, 59% perceived they had neither a physical nor a mental illness. However, 43% stated they had fears about their health problem and 1 in 5 feared it could be life-threatening. Although only 10% presented with psychological complaints, 24% perceived they currently had a mental illness. The most common expectations were treatment (50%) and good communication (42%). Most youth were prescribed medication (60%), but 40% of those who received a prescription had not expected to receive a treatment. A follow-up appointment was offered to 57% of participants.

Conclusions

This study identifies a gap between young people’s perception of illness and their presentations to family doctors. It also highlights unexpected fears, and a mismatch between expectations and service receipt. These findings have implications for family medicine training and for clinical practice. They should inform the development of youth friendly services.

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Acknowledgments

We wish to thank the young people and the GPs for their kind participation. We are also grateful to Emeritus Professor Anthony Mann and Dr. Athula Sumathipala for providing us with the interview instrument and its original code book.

Conflict of Interest

D. Haller’s fellowship in Melbourne was supported by Geneva University Hospital, Geneva Academic Society and the Swiss National Science Foundation. She was awarded an International Postgraduate Research Scholarship from The University of Melbourne and a publication grant (Fonds Tremplin) from Geneva University. L. Sanci was in receipt of an Australian National Health and Medical Research Council Public Health Postdoctoral Fellowship. None of these funding sources had any control or influence over the research project or the decision to submit the final article for publication.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Adolescent Health, Murdoch Children’s Institute at the Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne, Australia

    Dagmar M. Haller MD, PhD, George C. Patton MBBS, PhD & Susan M. Sawyer MBBS, MD

  2. Department of General Practice, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia

    Dagmar M. Haller MD, PhD & Lena A. Sanci MBBS, PhD

  3. Department of Paediatrics, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia

    Susan M. Sawyer MBBS, MD

  4. Department of Community and Primary Care Medicine, Geneva University Hospitals, Rue Micheli-du-Crest 24, 1211, Geneva 14, Switzerland

    Dagmar M. Haller MD, PhD

Authors
  1. Dagmar M. Haller MD, PhD
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  2. Lena A. Sanci MBBS, PhD
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  3. George C. Patton MBBS, PhD
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  4. Susan M. Sawyer MBBS, MD
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dagmar M. Haller MD, PhD.

APPENDIX

APPENDIX

Box 1

Questions used to assess young people’s perception of their physical and mental health (derived from the GP questionnaire used in a WHO collaborative study in primary care23)

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Haller, D.M., Sanci, L.A., Patton, G.C. et al. Toward Youth Friendly Services: A Survey of Young People in Primary Care. J GEN INTERN MED 22, 775–781 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-007-0177-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-007-0177-5

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