General practitioners as educators in adolescent health: a training evaluation.

BACKGROUND: General practitioners play an important role in the primary care of adolescents in both community and clinical settings. Yet studies show that GPs can lack confidence, skills and knowledge in adolescent health. This study evaluates the effectiveness of an innovative training intervention on medical participants' knowledge and confidence as adolescent health educators in a school setting. METHODS: 15 general practitioners, 12 general practice registrars and 18 medical students participated in an adolescent health education workshop followed by field experience in health education sessions in secondary schools. The mixed method design included a pre and post intervention survey and focus group interviews. RESULTS: Mean scores on the Confidence to Teach scale increased significantly (3.34 ± 0.51 to 4.09 ± 0.33) (p < .001) as did confidence to communicate with adolescents (3.64 ± 0.48 to 4.19 ± 0.33) (p < .001). Mean knowledge scores increased significantly (7.00 ± 1.22 to 8.98 ± 1.11) (p < .001). Participants highlighted the value of learning about adolescent health issues and generic teaching skills especially lesson planning and design, practicing experiential teaching strategies and finding the 'sweet spot' when communicating with adolescents. Some participants reported that these skills would transfer to the practice setting. CONCLUSION: An applied training intervention that uses evidence-based, experiential teaching strategies and focuses on developing knowledge and practical teaching skills appropriate for the health education of adolescents can enhance knowledge and confidence to engage in community-based adolescent health education.

Cultural diversity in adolescent health care.

In Australia, where about 16% of young people are born overseas and 24% are from a non-English-speaking background, adolescent health care is a multicultural challenge. "Cultural competency" involves challenging one's own cultural assumptions and beliefs, developing empathy for people from other cultures, and applying specific communication and interaction skills in clinical encounters. For health professionals, sensitivity to the cultural, ethnic, linguistic and social diversity among young people helps to avert problems and misunderstandings, improves satisfaction for all concerned and leads to better outcomes. Engaging the family and gaining the trust of parents is critical in treating young people from cultural backgrounds in which participation in health care is a family concern rather than an individual responsibility.