Disparities in adolescent-physician views of teen health information concerns

To enhance communications between physicians and adolescents, 600 middle school students and 99 physicians completed written questionnaires assessing the importance of 45 items from seven subscales: smoking; physical fitness; weight control; self-actualization; comparison with others; peer opinion; and communications. Adolescents rated the importance of knowing about items from each scale. Physicians rated how much importance they attached to each scale and their perception of the adolescents' ratings. Physicians placed more importance on each scale than did the adolescents, and they did not accurately judge the importance adolescents placed on the items. Physicians and adolescents differed significantly in the ratings of all but one scale, weight. With the exception of one scale (peer opinion), physicians estimated that adolescents would place less importance on the items in each scale than the adolescents actually reported. Our results suggest the need to concurrently consider adolescent-physician views when seeking to meet adolescents' health needs.