Understanding Parent Perspectives Concerning Adolescents’ Online Access to Personal Health Information

BACKGROUND: Although today's youth are interested in using the internet to access and manage information related to their health, little information exists about parental attitudes towards the release of health information to adolescents. METHODS: Structured interviews were conducted with the parents of 83 adolescents detained at a large Northern California juvenile detention facility to examine parental perceptions toward allowing their children online access to their own health information. RESULTS: The majority of parents interviewed (70%) wanted their children to have online access to their own health information. Seventy-nine percent of these parents were also comfortable allowing their children to choose with whom they would share this information. CONCLUSIONS: This study is one of the first to examine parental attitudes towards providing adolescents access to their own health information, and the first among parents of underserved youth. This study demonstrates that parents may be quite supportive of allowing their adolescent children to have secure online access to their own health information.