Teenagers' views on general practice consultations and other medical advice

Background. The provision of health services for teenagers is of current in terest in relation to primary care. Objectives. The main objective of the study was to look at satisfaction wit h the teenager's fast consultation and any reasons for dissatisfaction. A f urther objective was to look at common teenage health concerns to identify how many teenagers had been concerned about them, where they sought advice, and to look at ratings of this advice. Method. Questionnaires were completed as part of a continuing evaluation of a novel sex education programme in 38 schools in 1997 and provided the dat a. The particular items reported in this study were related to satisfaction with the last GP consultation and reasons for dissatisfaction, health conc erns and who (if anybody) was approached to address these concerns, and com ments on services used. 5152 teenagers (51.8% male and 47.8% female) comple ted the questionnaires in a school lesson under conditions of complete conf identiality. Results. Over 86% of adolescents were apparently satisfied with their last consultation with a GP, although several possible reasons were identified f or any dissatisfaction. Health concerns were identified and sources of help were considered and compared; no obvious levels of relative dissatisfactio n with services were noted. A large number of teenagers identified apparent concerns but did not seek help for these concerns. Conclusions. Adolescents are largely satisfied with the services available in primary care. A number of teenagers do not seek help for their own indiv idual concerns. Encouraging teenagers to attend when they perceive a health problem may help provide a more sensitive primary care service.