Adolescent Healthcare Access: A Qualitative Study of Provider Perspectives

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Access
• Adolescent Health
• Public Health

Background:

• Quality healthcare for adolescents is crucial for preventing health risks.
• Provider perspectives on youth healthcare access barriers are essential for improvement.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify barriers and facilitators to adolescent healthcare access from a provider viewpoint.
• To understand how individual, organizational, and community factors impact youth care utilization.

Main Methods:

• Conducted five focus groups with healthcare providers (November-December 2020).
• Analyzed provider insights on adolescent patient populations and health concerns.
• Utilized Inductive Thematic Analysis and a social-ecological framework for theme grouping.

Main Results:

• Individual factors: adolescent navigation skills, provider trust, and parental support.
• Organizational factors: bureaucratic hurdles and clinic reputation among youth.
• Community factors: healthcare system mistrust and service stigma; state policies on consent impacted access.

Conclusions:

• Adolescent healthcare access in the US is complex, needing system-level change.
• Healthcare organizations and providers can improve youth access and experiences.
• Lack of standardized guidelines limits adolescent-centered care delivery.