Citation

Friedman LS, Johnson B, Brett AS. J. Adolesc. Health Care 1990; 11(3): 227-230.

Affiliation

Department of Medicine, New England Deaconess Hospital, Boston, MA 02215, United States

Copyright

(Copyright © 1990, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Physicians are in a unique position to identify substance-abusing adolescents. To evaluate physician performance from the patient's perspective, we interviewed 54 substance-abusing adolescents and their parents about previous medical encounters. Although nearly all patients had seen a physician during the time they were using drugs or alcohol, 43% did not recall being asked by a doctor about alcohol or drug use. Of the 26 patients who recalled benig asked, 12 (46%) stated that they responded dishonestly, usually because a parent was present. Of the 23 who didn't recall being asked, five (18%) wished they had been asked. Physicians tended to ask about substance abuse more often (p = .08) when they had previously discussed the problem with parents, but many parents did not initiate such discussions. This survey suggests that physicians may not adequately assess high-risk adolescents for substance abuse because of physician-, patient- and/or parent-dependent factors.

Language: en