title: Barriers and facilitators of adolescent behavioral health in primary care: Perceptions of primary care providers.
abstract: Several major policy reports describe the central role of primary care in improving the delivery of behavioral health care services to children and adolescents. Although primary care providers are uniquely positioned to provide these services, numerous obstacles hinder the integration of these services, including time, clinic management and organization issues, training, and resources. Although many of these obstacles have been described in the literature, few studies have investigated these issues from the first-person perspective of front-line providers. The purpose of this study, therefore, is to provide an in-depth description of primary care providers' attitudes and perceptions of adolescent behavioral health care across a diversity of primary care settings (i.e., Federally Qualified Health Center [FQHC], FQHC-Look Alike, school-based, military). Sixteen focus groups were conducted at 5 primary care clinics. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the focus group data. Obstacles to integration are presented as well as strategies to overcome these challenges, using training and education, working groups, and community collaboratives.
authors.affiliation: Marriage and Family Therapy Program., Pfeiffer University, Charlotte, NC, USA. george.bitar@pfeiffer.edu
authors.forename: George W
authors.initials: GW
authors.lastname: Bitar
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Springer
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gee
authors.forename: Chad
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Graff
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schydlower
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D000554:Ambulatory Care Facilities; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D017144:Focus Groups; D006801:Humans; D008605:Mental Health Services; D010348:Patient Care Team; D011320:Primary Health Care