Abstract
Adolescent-physician communication about sexual behaviors, sexuality, and protective behaviors is vital for the support of sexual minorities and the prevention of sexually transmitted infections and unintended pregnancies. The objective of this review is to identify sexual topics that physicians and adolescents discuss during medical encounters and examine the quantity and quality of that communication. We performed a systematic literature review of major databases through May 2016. We identified 33 papers that focused on adolescent-physician communication about three major sexual health topics: coital or noncoital sexual behaviors, sexual orientation or attractions, and sexually protective or preventative behaviors. Communication between adolescents and physicians about these sexual topics is infrequent and coincides with calls for improvement in clinical sex communication. Communication about sexual attractions, sexual orientation, and noncoital sexual behaviors were the rarest in practice, whereas mentions of contraception were more frequent. The review also highlights substantial limitations with this body of research, and more advanced research designs are warranted. Associations between clinical sexual communication and sexual health outcomes (e.g., contraceptive use and sexually transmitted infection occurrence) would improve knowledge of the effectiveness of communication in practice.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Journal | Journal of Adolescent Health |
| DOIs | |
| State | Accepted/In press - Sep 6 2016 |
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Keywords
- Adolescent
- Contraceptive methods
- Health communication
- Physicians
- Sexual activity
- Sexual orientation
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Pediatrics, Perinatology, and Child Health
- Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
- Psychiatry and Mental health
Cite this
Physicians Talking About Sex, Sexuality, and Protection With Adolescents. / Fuzzell, Lindsay; Shields, Cleveland G.; Alexander, Stewart C.; Fortenberry, J.
In: Journal of Adolescent Health, 06.09.2016.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Physicians Talking About Sex, Sexuality, and Protection With Adolescents
AU - Fuzzell, Lindsay
AU - Shields, Cleveland G.
AU - Alexander, Stewart C.
AU - Fortenberry, J.
PY - 2016/9/6
Y1 - 2016/9/6
N2 - Adolescent-physician communication about sexual behaviors, sexuality, and protective behaviors is vital for the support of sexual minorities and the prevention of sexually transmitted infections and unintended pregnancies. The objective of this review is to identify sexual topics that physicians and adolescents discuss during medical encounters and examine the quantity and quality of that communication. We performed a systematic literature review of major databases through May 2016. We identified 33 papers that focused on adolescent-physician communication about three major sexual health topics: coital or noncoital sexual behaviors, sexual orientation or attractions, and sexually protective or preventative behaviors. Communication between adolescents and physicians about these sexual topics is infrequent and coincides with calls for improvement in clinical sex communication. Communication about sexual attractions, sexual orientation, and noncoital sexual behaviors were the rarest in practice, whereas mentions of contraception were more frequent. The review also highlights substantial limitations with this body of research, and more advanced research designs are warranted. Associations between clinical sexual communication and sexual health outcomes (e.g., contraceptive use and sexually transmitted infection occurrence) would improve knowledge of the effectiveness of communication in practice.
AB - Adolescent-physician communication about sexual behaviors, sexuality, and protective behaviors is vital for the support of sexual minorities and the prevention of sexually transmitted infections and unintended pregnancies. The objective of this review is to identify sexual topics that physicians and adolescents discuss during medical encounters and examine the quantity and quality of that communication. We performed a systematic literature review of major databases through May 2016. We identified 33 papers that focused on adolescent-physician communication about three major sexual health topics: coital or noncoital sexual behaviors, sexual orientation or attractions, and sexually protective or preventative behaviors. Communication between adolescents and physicians about these sexual topics is infrequent and coincides with calls for improvement in clinical sex communication. Communication about sexual attractions, sexual orientation, and noncoital sexual behaviors were the rarest in practice, whereas mentions of contraception were more frequent. The review also highlights substantial limitations with this body of research, and more advanced research designs are warranted. Associations between clinical sexual communication and sexual health outcomes (e.g., contraceptive use and sexually transmitted infection occurrence) would improve knowledge of the effectiveness of communication in practice.
KW - Adolescent
KW - Contraceptive methods
KW - Health communication
KW - Physicians
KW - Sexual activity
KW - Sexual orientation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85017184375&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85017184375&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2017.01.017
DO - 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2017.01.017
M3 - Article
C2 - 28391967
AN - SCOPUS:85017184375
JO - Journal of Adolescent Health
JF - Journal of Adolescent Health
SN - 1054-139X
ER -