title: Are adolescents being screened for emotional distress in primary care?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess primary care providers' rates of screening for emotional distress among adolescent patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Secondary data analysis utilizing data from: (1) well visits in pediatric clinics within a managed care plan in California, and (2) the 2003 California Health Interview Survey (CHIS), a state population sample. The Pediatric clinic sample included 1089 adolescent patients, ages 13 to 17, who completed a survey about provider screening immediately upon exiting a well visit. The CHIS sample included 899 adolescents, ages 13 to 17, who had a routine physical exam within the past 3 months. As part of the survey, adolescents answered a question about whether they had talked with their provider about their emotions at the time of the exam. Logistic regressions, controlling for age, gender, race/ethnicity, and adolescent depressive symptoms were performed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  About one-third of adolescents reported a discussion of emotional health. Females were significantly more likely to be screened than males (36% vs. 30% in clinic; 37% vs. 26% in CHIS); as were older and Latino adolescents in the clinic sample. Although 27% of teens endorsed emotional distress, distress was not a significant predictor of talking to a provider about emotions.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Primary care clinicians/systems need to better utilize the primary care visit to screen adolescents for emotional health.
authors.affiliation: Division of Adolescent Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, 3333 California Street, Suite 245, San Francisco, CA 94118, USA. Elizabeth.Ozer@ucsf.edu
authors.forename: Elizabeth M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Ozer
authors.forename: Elaine G
authors.initials: EG
authors.lastname: Zahnd
authors.forename: Sally H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Adams
authors.forename: Sheila R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Husting
authors.forename: Charles J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Wibbelsman
authors.forename: Kim P
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: Norman
authors.forename: Susan M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Smiga
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002140:California; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D011320:Primary Health Care; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000175:diagnosis*