Health risk behaviours of high school learners and their perceptions of preventive services offered by general practitioners

Abstract

Background: Adolescence spans nearly a decade in which young people may initiate health risk behaviours such as unsafe sexual practices and the use of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs (ATOD use). Most adolescent mortality and morbidity, attributable to such health risk behaviours, are preventable. Managing the consequences of health risk behaviours is costly and does not reduce the number of young people making these unhealthy lifestyle choices. The emphasis needs to shift towards the provision of adolescent primary and secondary preventive services. Overseas efforts involve national health risk behaviour screening, the application of national guidelines for primary health care workers in all contexts and continuing evaluation so that appropriate region-specific policies can be instituted. In spite of the completion of the second South African National Health Risk Behaviour Survey and the implementation and evaluation of the National Adolescent-Friendly Clinic Initiative (NAFCI) in government clinics, South Africa still lacks national guidelines for the primary health care worker to administer adolescent preventive services. Furthermore, the NAFCI initiative does not involve the general practitioner (GP) in the private sector. The aim of the research is to provide a profile of adolescent health risk behaviours and describe their GPs' provision of preventive services to address these health risk behaviours.