Young women's reproductive health conversations: Roles of maternal figures and clinical practices

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 15; no. 1; p. e0228142
• Main Authors: Richards, Nicole K, Crockett, Elizabeth, Morley, Christopher P, Levandowski, Brooke A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 23.01.2020; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Audio data; Autonomy; Best practices; Biology and Life Sciences; Birth control; Children; Clinical decision making; Communication; Community colleges; Confidentiality; Decision making; Empowerment; Female; Focus groups; Health; Health care; Health Personnel - legislation & jurisprudence; Health Personnel - statistics & numerical data; Humans; Leadership; Medical personnel; Medicine and Health Sciences; Mothers; People and Places; Preventive medicine; Privacy; Reproductive health; Reproductive Health - legislation & jurisprudence; Reproductive Health - statistics & numerical data; Social Sciences; State laws; Teenagers; Women; Women's health; Women's Health - legislation & jurisprudence; Women's Health - statistics & numerical data; Workers; Young Adult; Young women; New York; United States > US
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0228142

To explore the role of clinical providers and mothers on young women's ability to have confidential, candid reproductive health conversations with their providers. We conducted 14 focus groups with 48 women aged 15-28 years (n = 9), and 32 reproductive healthcare workers (n = 5). Focus groups were audio recorded and transcribed. Data were analyzed using inductive coding and thematic analyses. We examined findings through the lens of paternalism, a theory that illustrates adults' role in children's autonomy and wellbeing. Mothers have a substantial impact on young women's health values, knowledge, and empowerment. Young women reported bringing information from their mothers into patient-provider health discussions. Clinical best practices included intermingled components of office policies, state laws, and clinical guidelines, which supported health workers' actions to have confidential conversations. There were variations in how health workers engaged young women in a confidential conversation within the exam room. Both young women and health workers benefit from situations in which health workers firmly ask the parent to leave the exam room for a private conversation with the patient. Young women reported this improves their comfort in asking the questions they need to make the best decision for themselves. Clinic leadership needs to ensure that confidentiality surrounding young women's reproductive health is uniform throughout their practice and integrated into patient flow.