Working with young people: evaluation of an education resource for medical trainees

Aim: Many health professionals report interest in consulting more effectively with young people but have unmet training needs. We set out to evaluate a teaching resource in adolescent health and medicine that was designed for Australian trainees in specialist medicine.

Methods: Thirty-two paediatric and adult trainees of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians completed a pre-evaluation questionnaire to assess attitudes and confidence in working with young people. They were then provided with a training resource and, 6 weeks later, completed a post-evaluation questionnaire. Repeated-measures anovas were used to assess changes in attitudes, self-reported knowledge and confidence by trainee type. χ(2) -tests were used to compare variation in the use of and opinions about the resource.

Results: Trainees' awareness of the health issues that affect young people, confidence in working with young people and confidence in their knowledge greatly improved after using the resource. Beforehand, adult medicine trainees scored lower than paediatric trainees. A relatively higher rate of improvement resulted in similar scores between trainee types after using the resource, which was rated equally highly by the different groups of trainees.

Conclusions: As a result of significant gains in the confidence of specialist medicine trainees after access to the resource, it will now be made available for Australian trainees in specialist medicine.