Views and experiences of young people and their parents of managing acne: qualitative interview study

Acne vulgaris is a common chronic skin disease amongst young people. Effective, early management improves outcomes and reduces risk of long-term impacts such as scarring. However, little is known about how young people seek information, treatment and product advice, or the role of parents in acne management.

To explore the views and experiences of young people and parent and child dyads about their perceptions of living with and managing acne, particularly in relation to treatment, advice and information seeking.

Qualitative semi-structured interviews with 13-25 year-olds with acne and their parents sought their views and experiences of acne management. Participants were recruited via social media. Purposeful sampling sought diverse participant characteristics. Transcripts were analysed using inductive thematic analysis. Interviews were conducted between July and September 2022 with young people and their parents from across England.

We carried out interviews with 21 young people with acne, 5 parents plus three pairs of parents and young people. Participants discussed seeking trustworthy information and advice about acne (e.g. NHS website). However, other online information, particularly via social media, was commonly used to identify products, despite recognition this can be untrustworthy. Learning about experiences of others with acne was highly valued and relied upon for selecting products, as was perceived familiarity of products. Parents' role in acne management varied. Some helped with costs of products or as gatekeepers for seeking professional advice, especially during early stages of acne. Both parents and young people lacked awareness of effective treatments for acne, which seemed a barrier to effective self-management.

Online information, from varying sources, is very important to young people with acne and, although aware of potential misinformation, they still value its accessibility. Parents appear to have a strong role in supporting young people through formal healthcare seeking but are less involved in making sense of online information which young people tend to use independently. Reliable information resources for acne management should be targeted at both young people and parents. Clinicians need to be aware of patients' reliance on online information and signpost towards evidence-based resources.