This sample from a national audience of parents of adolescents shows that parents have specific preferences for content areas that clinicians propose to discuss with their children. Although adolescent healthcare often is focused on preventing high-risk behaviors, Dempsey et al found that parents most often rank as “very important” topics such as diet and nutrition, exercise and sports, and the physical changes of puberty. Investigators also found that although parents valued physician time alone with their adolescents, they were less prepared (46%) to respect the dialogue as a privileged conversation.
For several reasons, the methodologic findings in this study are not generalizable to the US population. But we think that this is precisely the authors' point. Parents' preferences are not generalizable. We need to understand better what anticipatory guidance given in what manner respects parents' wishes and optimizes the impact of adolescents' preventive healthcare visits. The findings also demonstrate that clinicians need to better help parents understand why private communications between clinicians and adolescents are an important part of a comprehensive strategy to promote positive behaviors in teenagers.
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