title: An educational intervention to increase internists' confidence with and provision of preventive services to adolescents and young adults.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Internal medicine (IM) physicians report inadequate preparation to care for adolescents and young adults.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim is to (a) improve IM residents' comfort and confidence caring for adolescents/young adults and (b) increase the percentage of adolescent/young adult patients receiving preventive healthcare.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fifty-two PGY1 IM residents were assigned to treatment or control groups. Residents in the treatment group interviewed and received feedback from adolescent instructors. We developed a survey to measure residents' comfort and confidence caring for adolescents/young adults and evaluated their adherence to screening guidelines for patients ages 16 to 26.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Significantly more residents in the intervention group felt confident identifying sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and substance abuse and treating STIs, substance abuse, and depression compared to residents in the control group. Residents in the intervention group were no more likely to screen adolescents/young adults for Chlamydia, HIV, alcohol misuse, or depression in the 6 months following the intervention.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  An educational intervention utilizing adolescent instructors improves resident confidence but does not increase adherence to screening guidelines.
authors.affiliation: Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. holly.gooding@childrens.harvard.edu
authors.forename: Holly C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Gooding
authors.forename: Emily A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Blood
authors.forename: Niraj
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sharma
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D002983:Clinical Competence; D037001:Directive Counseling / Q000379:methods; D004493:Education; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006266:Health Education / Q000379:methods*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007388:Internal Medicine / Q000193:education*; D007396:Internship and Residency / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D011314:Preventive Health Services; D011320:Primary Health Care; D012042:Registries; D012649:Self Concept; D057566:Self Report; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult