title: Understanding the attitudes of Latino parents toward confidential health services for teens.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To explore the knowledge and attitudes that Latino parents have about confidential health services for their teens and to identify factors that may influence those attitudes.
  
  
  METHODS
  Latino parents of teens (12-17 years) were randomly selected from a large health maintenance organization and a community-based hospital to participate in 1-hour focus groups. We conducted eight focus groups in the parent's preferred language. Spanish and English transcripts were translated and coded with intercoder reliability >80%.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were 52 participants (30 mothers, 22 fathers). There is a wide range of parental knowledge and attitudes about confidential health services for teens. Parents believed they had the right to know about their teens' health but were uncomfortable discussing sexual topics and thought confidential teen-clinician discussions would be helpful. Factors that influence parental acceptability of confidential health services include parental trust in the clinician; the clinician's interpersonal skills, clinical competencies, and ability to partner with parents and teens; and clinician-teen gender concordance. Most parents preferred teens' access to confidential services than having their teens forego needed care.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study identifies several underlying issues that may influence Latino youths' access to confidential health services. Implications for clinical application and future research are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California 94118, USA. tebbk@peds.ucsf.edu
authors.forename: Kathleen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tebb
authors.forename: Liz Karime
authors.initials: LK
authors.lastname: Hernandez
authors.forename: Mary-Ann
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Shafer
authors.forename: Fay
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Stephen L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Eyre
authors.forename: Regina
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Otero-Sabogal
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D016497:Adolescent Health Services; D001290:Attitude / Q000208:ethnology*; D002140:California; D002648:Child; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003219:Confidentiality / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D011368:Professional-Family Relations; D035502:Trust