Caring for adolescents in Guatemala: provider perspectives

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Medical Education
• Adolescent Health

Background:

• Adolescents represent the largest demographic globally, posing significant healthcare challenges, especially in low and middle-income countries.
• Guatemala faces the necessity of addressing the growing healthcare needs of its large adolescent population.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the training, knowledge, and comfort levels of healthcare providers in Guatemala regarding adolescent healthcare services.
• To identify barriers and gaps in current healthcare provision for adolescents in Guatemala.

Main Methods:

• A qualitative study involving 20 medical providers recruited from a Guatemalan university and affiliated hospitals.
• Face-to-face, semi-structured interviews were conducted to explore training, knowledge, skills, and experience in adolescent healthcare.
• Framework analysis was used to identify emergent themes from transcribed interviews.

Main Results:

• Five major themes emerged: the need for dedicated adolescent health services, barriers to care, provider comfort in communicating with adolescents, limited knowledge of specific services/guidelines, and gaps in medical education.
• Providers acknowledged a significant need for specialized adolescent health services.
• Identified barriers and knowledge gaps indicate a need for improved training and resources.

Conclusions:

• Healthcare providers in Guatemala perceive a strong need for enhanced and dedicated adolescent health services.
• There is substantial support for developing a national credentialed training program for adolescent health.
• Addressing gaps in medical education and training is essential to improve adolescent healthcare delivery.