Asia Pacific Journal of Pediatric and Child Health

Abstract Ref Number = APCP410

Oral Presentation

SELF-ASSESSED CONFIDENCE LEVEL OF NEWLY-GRADUATED GENERAL PRACTICIONERS IN DISCUSSING ADOLESCENTSâ€™ HEALTH-RELATED ISSUES

Suryadi Limardi,Ricky Saunders Weekombak Public Health Center, Southwest Sumba, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia Wangaya General Hospital, Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia

Background : According to the competency standard, early detection and discussion of adolescents’ health risk behaviors are the competencies that must be achieved by general practicioners (GPs) in Indonesia when they graduated medical school. Unfortunately, studies have reported that GPs are having low efficacy and lack of confidence to do so. This study aims to determine the confidence of newly-graduated GPs in Indonesia in discussing adolescents’ health-related issues and to assess factors associated with the confidence.

Material : This is a cross-sectional online-based questionnaire study that includes GPs that graduated from medical school in Indonesia in year 2017 and 2018 and had not been assigned to the Health Ministry Internship program. A questionnaire assessing confidence in discussing nine issues of adolescents’ health problems was developed and validated with good reliability. Chi-Square test was used to assess the association of each participant’s characteristics to their overall confidence.

Results : There were 133 responses obtained. Sexual orientation, sexual activity and sexual abuse were the topics which most of the participants were not confident to discuss. Majority (76.7%) of participants had been categorized as overall confident and 63.2% of them perceived their knowledge as adequate. Self perception of adequate knowledge in adolescent health care and clinical experience in discussing adolescents’ health problem topics were significantly associated with confidence. Number of adolescent patients treated, number of participation in training for discussing adolescents’ health problems and clinical experiences in discussing adolescents’ health problems were associated with adequate self-perceived knowledge, thus showing that these factors might indirectly affecting the confidence.

Conclusions : Majority of the newly-graduated GPs in Indonesia were already confident to discuss about adolescents’ health-related issues with their patients and perceived their knowledge as adequate. Adequate self-perceived knowledge and clinical experience in adolescents’ health-related issues discussion were significantly associated with confidence of the GPs. Confidence might be improved by intervening these factors.

Keywords: Confidence General Practicioners Adolescents's health Indonesia