Enhancing Communication Among Adolescents and Health Care Providers: Evolution and Evaluation of Youth-Driven Initiative Addressing Barriers.

Background: Significant interpersonal barriers impede the delivery of quality adolescent health care. While a complex issue, public health and health care entities continue to seek ways to work with the populations they serve to better address such challenges.

Methods: The PATCH Teen Educator Program, an initiative of the Providers and Teens Communicating for Health (PATCH) Program, promotes open, honest, and medically accurate conversations between health care professionals and adolescents via youth-led workshops for both clinicians and adolescents.

Results: Across 6 program sites, workshop participants noted positive changes towards enhancing patient-clinician communication. Youth facilitators also reported notable changes related to workforce and youth development after their 9-month commitment to the program.

Discussion: These results showcase promising effects of the youth-driven initiative on enhancing local adolescent patient-clinician communication, as well as effects on engaged youth.