Full Schedule

The provision of adolescent-focused care and research involving sensitive topics, such as sexual health, can be challenging in any setting, especially in the time of COVID-19. Laws for confidential clinical care vary among states, and several of these laws do not support best research practices. Additional issues, such as adolescent research consent, also provide challenges in initiating and executing both single- and multi-site studies.

This workshop will expose attendees to various consent, privacy, confidentiality, and research-related challenges affecting adolescents, particularly in the emergency department (ED) setting, and provide tools to address these challenges in their own setting. Many of the challenges faced and tools to address them are relevant outside the ED and will be relevant to providers in a variety of practice settings.

The workshop will begin with an introduction of the topic, the presenters, and the attendees. Next, attendees will be divided into 3 breakout sessions where they will be assigned a clinical care or research-related question focusing on an adolescent sexual health topic and a corresponding scenario. For example, one group may be asked to address a difficult situation that hypothetically arose with the development or execution of a research project (e.g. a consent challenge delaying IRB approval or a parent issue when approaching a family for enrollment). Each group will discuss among themselves how they would address the specific question posed to them, and a facilitator will act as a moderator for each group. Groups will then come together for facilitated discussion.

The facilitators will present a focused, didactic overview of issues related to each scenario, with continued dialogue between facilitators and attendees to generate creative solutions. Each small group will have the opportunity to present their scenario with didactics and discussion following. During these group exercises, participants will be asked to electronically send any questions they have related to IRB review/approval, and the workshop will conclude with a facilitated Q&A style session with IRB leaders from pediatric research institutions.

The leaders of the this workshop consist of the current Chair and members of the Adolescent Sexual Health Working Group from PECARN (Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Applied Research Network). Together, we work collaboratively to improve the sexual health of adolescent ED patients and conduct patient-centered, evidence-based research.