Adolescents' views regarding sexual history taking

To address the health needs of adolescents, health care providers need to u nderstand adolescent perceptions of the sexual history caking process. adol escents (n=113) were recruited from two sources of health care to complete a questionnaire regarding sexual history taking issues. The results reveale d that there were differences in demographics, practice characteristics, an d communication strategies between the private office and the hospital clin ic. Attitudes and beliefs related to the discussion of sensitive issues wer e similar. Most adolescents would like health care providers to discuss sen sitive topics directly. It is important for health care providers to feel c omfortable initiating discussion of sensitive issues directly.