The Significance of Adolescent Privacy in Healthcare in Australia

This report explores the crucial importance of adolescent privacy within healthcare settings, focusing on the Australian context. It highlights the legal and ethical considerations, including government regulations and the 'Charter of Rights for Child in Care,' which supports adolescent privacy. The report examines the need for confidentiality in areas such as reproductive and mental health, and drug or alcohol treatment, to encourage teenagers to seek help. It discusses the challenges teenagers face in sharing problems with parents and the role of healthcare providers in these situations. Furthermore, the report analyzes parental perspectives, international guidelines, and clinical approaches, emphasizing the balance between privacy and the need to protect adolescents from harm, particularly in cases involving risk-taking behaviors or emergencies. The report references key sources to support its findings.

IMPORTANCE OF ADOLESCENT PRIVACY IN HEALTH
CARE

 Privacy in health care is
considered to be an important
factor for every patient
irrespective of their ages.
Therefore, confidentiality of
the adolescent patient reflects
the basic right of a person.
 In this context, the clinical
consultant must have the
perception of which facts can
be shared with the parents and
which are not (Guest, 2012).
Privacy for teens in health care

Teenage health issues in
Australia

Regulation
The government regulation of
Australia also supports the
prevalence of keeping privacy
of the adolescent health care.
In this regards, the ‘Charter
of Rights for Child in Care’
includes a schedule for the
Child Protect Act of 1999
(Children's Rights: Australia ,
2018).

Regulation in practice
 According to the Act, there are no hard and
fast principles for the children in making
decisions for their own care and protection
(Medical procedures for children, 2018).
 It means the adolescents and citizens of
15years of age and above can take
decisions individually or consult with their
parents. The parents and the guardians
must not put pressure on the teenagers to
share their problems.

IMPORTANCE OF PRIVACY
 There is a practice among
doctors and psychologists to
protect the confidentiality of the
teens in specific service. For
instance, in reproductive and
mental health condition, drug or
alcohol treatment (Duncan,
2013).
 The reason behind protecting
child’s mental or physical health
condition is that it encourages
the teens to consult with
doctors instead of their parents.

Family constraints
In most of the cases, teenagers
are not able to share their
problems with their parents
because of lack of interactions or
flexibility n relationship.
Therefore, the doctors render the
support in crisis time (Guest,
2012).
It can also be argued that parents
have dearth of medical knowledge
in case of serious health related
problems. Problems like sexual
abuse or habit of taking any drugs
can lead towards a threat to life.
The doctors are needed to be
intervened in this scenario.

PARENTS’ PERSPECTIVE
 All parents are generally very
concerned about their children
for giving them the liberty and
independency. A fear of doing
something bad makes the
parents more protective towards
their children.
 The confidentiality and privacy is
also intertwined with the role of
parenting. For some parents,
staying aback and letting their
children deciding their life is
seemed to be bad parenting,
whereas some people are open
enough to give their children the
right to set their goals without
anyone’s help (Guest, 2012).

International aspect
 However, the international
guidelines recommend a
private time for the
adolescents while
consulting with the doctor.
 Moreover, there should be
a sense of trust and
understanding between the
parents and their children
which will endorse a good
relationship between them
(Guest, 2012).

Clinical approach
According to the Australian
psychologists, in case of the risk-taking
behaviours Consultants are forced to
share information with the parents.
Extreme behaviours such as suicidal
behaviour or other kind of life risks
push the consultants to breach their
professional ethics and having a
conversation with the parents (Duncan,
2013).
However, the ethical codes of the
doctors and psychologists enable them
to breach their patient confidentiality
in case of emergency times.

Relationship between teenagers
and other elements
Teen ager
health
care

Reference
Guest, M. (2012). Teens deserve privacy. Herald Sun, [online]
p.15. Available at:
https://blogs.rch.org.au/cah/files/2012/02/Teens_deserve_priva
cy.pdf [Accessed 9 May 2018].
Duncan, R. (2013). Sex, drugs and illness: why teens need
medical confidentiality. Retrieved from
https://theconversation.com/sex-drugs-and-illness-why-teens-
need-medical-confidentiality-12525
Children's Rights: Australia | Law Library of Congress. (2018).
Retrieved from
https://www.loc.gov/law/help/child-rights/australia.php
8. Medical procedures for children. (2018). Retrieved from
https://aifs.gov.au/publications/citizen-child-australian-law-
and-childrens-rights/8-medical-procedures-children