Designing a health screening tool to help young people communicate with their general practitioner

Abstract

Adolescence is an important developmental period for physical, cognitive, social and emotional development when a wide range of health problems and risky health-related behaviours may emerge and co-occur. General Practitioners (GPs) are ideally positioned to deliver preventive health and early intervention as part of young people's routine health care. A quick and effective way for GPs to identify areas of concern is through technology-based health screening tools, which are acceptable to young people and facilitate self-disclosure about sensitive topics. Despite these advantages, the rate of using this technology remains low. This is the first study that involves all end users and stakeholders in the design of a health screening technology for young people in general practice settings. Our rich findings on the design needs and concerns of young people, GPs, practice staff and parents regarding technologies for health communication will be useful to any researchers and practitioners designing health technologies in a general practice setting.