Abstract

PIP: Accessibility to family planning services is very important for the adolescent community. Questionnaires were mailed to 125 family physicians working within or close to an Ontario urban community situated within a larger metropolitan area to determine family doctors' practices in providing family planning services to adolescents. Most requests for family planning services were from women 18 years of age and older, and more than half of the doctors saw 2 or fewer clients per month under the age of 18 years. With the exception of counseling, distinctly fewer services were available to minors than to the practice population at large. 30 (38%) of the physicians reported limiting their family planning practice to established patients, 11 (13%) limited it to married or common-law patients, and 2 physicians (3%) had other nonspecified restrictions. To determine physician awareness of family planning clinics, the physicians were asked if they could identify any family planning clinics in their area. 32 (40%) reported that they did not know of any; 31 (39%) gave no response; and 17 (21%) could identify any. Only 7 (9%) reported referring clients to any clinic. Many physicians commented that they and their clients felt satisfied with the family planning service. Any problems that the family physician could not handle were referred to a gynecologist. The results reveal that physicians tend to serve a more adult population and see relatively few adolescents. Only 64% of the local doctors indicated they might provide birth control to minors. This is distinctly lower than the 86% national and 85% Ontario rates found by Boldt et al. There is no question that a role exists for the clinic in this locale to provide unimpeded access to services, especially for younger women and minors.