Congratulations to Rosemary Sasse, Rony Duncan, Rosalie Aroni and Susan Sawyer who have just had a paper published in the Journal of Adolescent Health about confidentiality with adolescents and why parents worry about it.

Dr Duncan and Professor Sawyer’s previous research had shown that parents had mixed views about confidential health discussions for their teenage children. In this new study, the research team was interested in finding out more about what was behind parents’ views. To this end, Rosemary Sasse conducted a series of interviews with parents of adolescents to hear their opinions regarding confidential consultations for adolescents with doctors (without parents present). Parents’ views seemed to be influenced by 2 key factors: (1) how much they trust health professionals; and (2) how they view their role as a parent.

The findings should help health professionals to understand why parents might be reluctant to step out of the consultation and how they can talk to both parents and young people in order to help everyone to feel comfortable with confidential consultations. Only in this way can adolescents receive the developmentally-appropriate care that is so vital for them.

 To read more, the full article can be found here:

Confidential Consultations With Adolescents: An Exploration of Australian Parents’ Perspectives

Rosemary A Sasse, Rosalie A Aroni, Susan M Sawyer & Rony E Duncan

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1054139X12008002

Read the article in the Medical Observer about this paper

http://www.medicalobserver.com.au/news/parents-lack-faith-in-confidential-teen-consults

 Read the article published on “The Conversation“