The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
The impact of community-based sexually transmitted infection screening results on sexual risk behaviors of African American adolescents.
To examine the effect of a community-based sexually transmitted infection (STI) screening program on sexual risk behavior among African American adolescents. We hypothesized that adolescents testing positive for an STI and receiving post-test counseling would reduce risky sexual practices, whereas STI-negative adolescents would show little or no change in protective sexual behavior after screening. ⋯ Community-based STI screening can help to reduce sexual risk behavior in youth who test positive for STIs. Alternative approaches will be needed to reduce risk behavior in youth who test negative but who are nevertheless at risk for acquiring an STI.
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Providing healthcare for adolescents involves balancing parents' and adolescents' needs, and little research addressing, measuring, and achieving this balance has been conducted. A first step for healthcare providers toward achieving this balance is to understand the differences between parents and adolescents regarding perceptions of outpatient care experiences. This study was to explore and compare the experiences of care between parents and adolescents in a primary care setting. ⋯ These findings suggest that more time should be spent focusing on the adolescents' needs concerning communication. Healthcare providers should focus on the adolescents' needs by involving them in decisions and providing understandable answers to questions. Both parents and adolescents should be surveyed to measure their experience of care, especially with respect to involvement in care decisions, communication, and confidentiality.