PHILADELPHIA – Even when parents believe that allowing their adolescent daughter to have a confidential gynecologic interview is to her benefit, they misunderstand the purpose and value of the interview at least half the time.
That’s according to Dr. Gylynthia Trotman, a second-year fellow at Medstar Washington Hospital Center, Children’s National Medical Center, Washington, who presented survey data on the topic during a poster session at the annual meeting of the North American Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology.
Dr. Trotman and her colleagues found that half of the 62 pairs of parents of adolescent girls aged 11-17 years who’d been seen in a gynecologic specialty clinic feared that if their child were to discuss her health concerns alone with the physician, then the parents would be excluded from the decision-making process.
"The majority of parents felt that this was inappropriate for their teen, because this was a specialized setting," Dr. Trotman said.
In this audio interview, Dr. Trotman explains what families misperceive about the confidential interview and why.
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