From controlling to letting go: what are the psychosocial needs of parents of adolescents with a chronic illness?

While one of the main objectives of adolescence is to achieve autonomy, for the specific population of adolescents with a chronic illness (CI), the struggle for autonomy is accentuated by the limits implied by their illness. However, little is known concerning the way their parents manage and cope with their children's autonomy acquisition. Our aim was to identify the needs and preoccupations of parents of adolescents with CI in coping with their children's autonomy acquisition and to determine whether mothers and fathers coped differently. Using a qualitative approach, 30 parents of adolescents with CI participated in five focus groups. Recruitment took place in five specialized pediatric clinics from our university hospital. Thematic analysis was conducted. Transcript analyses suggested four major categories of preoccupations, those regarding autonomy acquisition, giving or taking on autonomy, shared management of treatment and child's future. Some aspects implied differences between mothers' and fathers' viewpoints and ways of experiencing this period of life. Letting go can be hard for the father, mother, adolescent or all three. Helping one or the other can in turn improve family functioning as a whole. Reported findings may help health professionals better assist parents in managing their child's acquisition of autonom

More Important Than You Thought: Some Chronically Ill Adolescents Rely a Lot on Their Health Professional

Purpose: To assess who do chronically ill adolescents rely on in their entourage. Methods: Data were drawn from the GenerationFRee study, a cross-sectional survey including 5149 youths aged 15-24 divided into 3 groups: healthy controls (HC; N=4529), chronically ill without limitations (CI; N=517) and chronically ill with limitations (CIWL; N=103). Groups were compared on perceived health status, socio-demographic variables and whether they could rely a lot on their father, their mother, their girl/boyfriend, their best friend or their health professional in case of difficulty. All variables significant at the bivariate level were included in a multinomial logistic regression using HC as the reference category. Results are given as Relative Risk Ratios (RRR) with 95% CI

Is Being Overweight or Obese Really a Problem?

Purpose: To assess whether there are individual, familial, academic or social differences between youths being overweight, obese or normal weight. Methods: Data were drawn from the GenerationFRee study, a cross-sectional survey including 5179 youths aged 15-24. Using Cole’s cut-off points of body mass index (BMI), individuals were divided into normal weight (NW; N=4291), overweight (OW; N=646), and obese (OB, N=242). Groups were compared on age, gender, emotional wellbeing, self-reported health status, family structure, relationship with father and with mother, life satisfaction, socioeconomic status, pubertal timing, popularity among peers, easiness to make friends, at risk for eating disorders, parents nationality, own nationality, and academic track. All variables at the bivariate level were included in multinomial logistic regression using NW as the reference category. Results are given as Relative Risk Ratios (RRR) with 95% confidence interval

Does Doing the Right Thing Pay? Comparing Youths Who Abstain from Risk Behaviors to Their Risk-taking Peers

Purpose: To assess whether young people not engaging in risk behaviors do better than their risk-taking peers. Methods: Data were drawn from the GenerationFRee study, a cross-sectional in-school survey including 5179 youths aged 15-24. Six risk behaviors were studied: smoking, alcohol misuse, cannabis use, use of other illegal drugs, violent behavior and antisocial behavior. A score obtained after adding the behaviors permitted to divide the subjects into Abstainers (score=0; N=1920) and Risk-takers (score>0; N=3259). Groups were compared on personal, familial, academic characteristics. All variables significant at the bivariate level were included in a logistic regression using Risk-takers as the reference category. Results are given as adjusted Odds Ratios (aOR) with 95% confidence interval

Cannabis and tobacco use: where are the boundaries? A qualitative study on cannabis consumption modes among adolescents

The purpose of this article is to identify tobacco and cannabis co-consumptions and consumers' perceptions of each substance. A qualitative research including 22 youths (14 males) aged 15-21 years in seven individual interviews and five focus groups. Discussions were recorded, transcribed verbatim and transferred to Atlas.ti software for narrative analysis. The main consumption mode is cannabis cigarettes which always mix cannabis and tobacco. Participants perceive cannabis much more positively than tobacco, which is considered unnatural, harmful and addictive. Future consumption forecasts thus more often exclude tobacco smoking than cannabis consumption. A substitution phenomenon often takes place between both substances. Given the co-consumption of tobacco and cannabis, in helping youths quit or decrease their consumptions, both substances should be taken into account in a global approach. Cannabis consumers should be made aware of their tobacco use while consuming cannabis and the risk of inducing nicotine addiction through cannabis use, despite the perceived disconnect between the two substances. Prevention programs should correct made-up ideas about cannabis consumption and convey a clear message about its harmful consequences. Our findings support the growing evidence which suggests that nicotine dependence and cigarette smoking may be induced by cannabis consumptio

Characteristics of young adult females who have never seen a gynecologist

Purpose: Swiss guidelines indicate that the first gynecological visit should take place when initiating sexual activity or, at the latest, at age 21 to perform a first pap smear. However, close to 5% of young adult females in our survey report never having seen a gynecologist by age 26. The aim of this study is to describe the characteristics of young adult females never having consulted a gynecologist. Methods : Data were drawn from the Swiss national survey on youth sexual behavior carried out in 2017. Out of 5175 participants who answered all questions, 2534 (49%; mean age 26.3) were females and included in the study. They were distributed in two groups depending on whether they had ever seen a gynecologist (GYN group; 95.4%) or not (NOGYN group; 4.6%). Groups were compared on age, age at first sexual contact, having ever had oral, vaginal or anal sex, being a virgin, type of partner relationship they were in (none/other), and having a history of STI. We first ran a bivariate analysis and all significant variables (p<.05) were included in a logistic regression using the GYN group as the reference category. Results are expressed as odds ratios (OR) with [95% confidence intervals]

“We just need to breathe and live normally”: reconsidering App-Based Peer-Support for parents of adolescents with chronic conditions

Purpose: To evaluate and explain a low use of the CO@CH Mobile App, a video-sharing peer-support platform for parents of adolescents with chronic conditions (CC). Methods: Qualitative methods were used to evaluate CO@CH by interviewing 23 parents (19 mothers) of adolescents with CCs: 20 in 5focus groups (FG) and 3 individual interviews (II). Were included parents who had used the CO@CH App (N¼4); parents who initially enrolled to participate but never used it (N¼5); parents who hadrefused up-front to participate (N¼1); parents who had never heardof CO@CH (N¼7); and staff members of patient associations who hadnever heard of CO@CH and who happened to also be parents ofadolescents with CCs (N¼6). All FGs and IIs were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim. All transcripts were opencoded, cross checked, and analysed thematically

Sexual desire is not just a women's issue: an exploratory study on sexual desire among young adults in switzerland

Purpose: Desire or libido issues are often discussed in a female perspective. The aim of this study was to assess the characteristics ofboth young males and females who reported poor sexual desire. Methods: Data were drawn from the Swiss national survey on youth sexual behavior carried out in 2017. Out of 5175 participants (49.0%females; mean age 26.3) who completed the questionnaire, 5124(99.0%; 48.9% females; mean age 26.3) answered a question about current sexual desire (“In the last 4 weeks, how would you rate your level of sexual desire or interest?”). Answers ranging from inexistent or very poor to very high were dichotomized into POOR (inexistent orvery poor, poor) and NoPOOR (medium, high, very high). We compared both groups on sociodemographic status, education (ter-tiary/other), residence (urban/rural), social life and financial satisfaction, sexual orientation (heterosexual / non-heterosexual), current mental health (poor / good), partner-related and pornography experience variables. For the partner-related variables, we assessed the current relationship status (none / yes [casual or stable]) and current sexual life satisfaction (unsatisfied / other). We asked participants if they had ever watched pornography and we dichotomized the answers into yes (once, several times) and no (never). We first ran a bivariate analysis and all significant variables (p<.05) were included in a logistic regression using the NoPOOR group as the reference category. Results are presented as odds ratios (OR). We compared the groups separately by gender

Relationship Between Youths and Their Parents

Purpose: To assess the characteristics of youths with a poor relationship with their parents and possible associations with risk behaviors. Methods: Data were drawn from the second wave of the GenerationFRee study, a Swiss longitudinal in-school survey including 2627 youths aged 15-22. Using a scale from 1 [poor] to 10 [excellent], participants evaluated their relationship with their mother and father. A poor relationship was defined with a score ≤5. Data were available for 2533 participants: 82.1% reported a good relationship with both parents, 12.3% a poor relationship only with their father, 3.3% only with their mother and 2.3% with both parents. The four groups were compared on demographic, family composition and academic data, emotional well-being and risk behaviors (current smoking, alcohol misuse, cannabis and illegal drugs use, violent and antisocial acts). All significant variables (p<.05) at the bivariate level were included in a multinomial regression analysis using a good relationship with both parents as the reference

To quit or to start? : the effect of e-cigarettes use on smoking traditional cigarettes among young people in Switzerland

The aim of this research was to study trajectories of use ofelectronic cigarettes (EC) over time among youths distinguishing between EC only and dual users (EC + traditional cigarettes) and to Research Poster Symposia / Journal of Adolescent Health 66 (2020) S23eS41S34 assess reasons to use EC. Particularly, we aimed to observe whether ECs were a gateway to traditional cigarettes (TC) and if they effectively helped in quitting smoking. Methods: Data came from the Generation FRee survey, a longitudinal study on youths’lifestyles (15-24 years at baseline[T1]) in the canton of Fribourg, Switzerland. Participants (N¼1437, mean age 16.7; 51.8% females) were divided at T1 in 4 groups according to their curren tsmoking status: TC-only smokers (N¼378, 26.3%; 51.5% females), EC-only (N¼42, 2.9%; 27.3% females), dual users (N¼97, 6.7%; 39.6% females) and non-smokers (N¼920, 64%; 53.4% females). Additionally, participants in the EC-only and dual groups at T1 reported the reasonsfor EC use. Finally, we determined the trajectories between T1 and T2(2016 and 2017) by observing in which of the 4 categories EC-only anddual users at T1 were at T2