Clinical adolescent decision-making: parental perspectives on confidentiality and consent in Belgium and The Netherlands

ABSTRACT

This study investigated Belgian and Dutch parental opinions on confidentiality and consent regarding medical decisions about adolescents. Through an online survey, we presented six cases (three on confidentiality, and three on consent) to 1,382 Belgian and Dutch parents. We studied patterns in parental confidentiality and consent preferences across and between cases through binomial logistic regressions and latent class analysis. Participants often grant the right to consent for a treatment to the adolescent, but the majority diverges from the adolescent’s preferences regarding confidentiality. More educated participants would rather not be informed about cases regarding a sexually transmitted disease or depression than lower educated participants. Further analysis shows that participants’ preferences correspond to authoritative (47%), permissive (30%) and authoritarian (17%) parenting styles. Belgian and Dutch parents are willing to grant some degree of autonomy, but they want to be informed about specific health issues. Parental views on confidentiality and granting consent appear to mirror existing parenting styles.

KEYWORDS:

• Adolescents
• parenting style
• parenting
• medical decision-making
• minors

List of abbreviations

STD: Sexually Transmitted Disease

US: Ultrasound

MFS: Maxillofacial surgery

ADHD: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

CME: Continuing Medical Education

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability

The full dataset is available in De Coninck et al. (2022).

Additional information

Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.