WHAT DO ADOLESCENT GIRLS EXPERIENCE WHEN THEY VISIT FAMILY PRACTITIONERS

OBJECTIVE To describe the experiences of 12- to 17-year-old girls when they visit general or family practitioners and to gain some understan ding of how they relate to these caregivers. DESIGN Qualitative analys is of the oral narratives of eight adolescent girls. SETTING After-sch ool community drop-in centre for youth in downtown Toronto. PARTICIPAN TS Eight adolescent girls between the ages of 12 and 17 years attendin g the drop-in centre. MAIN OUTCOME FINDINGS Five themes emerged: adole scent girls feel more comfortable with female physicians, they feel un comfortable during physical examinations, they would like doctors to e xplain medical issues, they would like doctors to be more like friends , and they want to be treated as teenagers by their doctors. CONCLUSIO NS This study was unique in its use of personal interviews with adoles cent girls to understand the experiences they have had with family phy sicians. The themes indicated how family physicians could improve ther apeutic relationships between themselves and their female adolescent p atients.