Trigger questions for health professionals assessing and managing adolescent
patients with chronic illnesses:
Trigger questions are given as examples to appropriately elicit important
information as a basis to deliver patient-centred care.
Can you explain your condition in your words?
Do you know other people who have the same condition?
Who knows that you suffer from this illness?
What do other people think of you having this illness (peers, teachers,
neighbors, etc.)?
Why do you think do you have this condition?
What does this illness hinder you from doing (be very specific!) now and
later in your
life?
How much time does the management of the disease take you and your parents?
(consider every day tasks and routine medical care and unforeseen controls,
possibly use a diary approach).
How do you compare yourself to peers in your class/grade? Are you small?
Do they have more or less breast development compared to you?
How do you like your body? What would you like to be different?
Has your menstrual cycle started already?
All the questions from HEADS apply here too and will give an interesting
profile of psycho-social development.
Who does what in your treatment (diary approach)? (What is your role, what
the one of
your parents?)
How do you approach the prescriptions, tasks?
Do you know why you should do the specific tasks?
How does the schedule of the tasks fit into your schedule?
When was the last time you forgot to take/do your treatment?
Estimate which percentage of the prescribed treatment did you perform in
the last two weeks
What do you enjoy in life?
Tell me about your friends. How many friends do you have? What are their
ages?
What do you do with your friends out of school?
What can you do on your own? What would you like to do on your own?
Tell me about future plans. Be specific of how you plan to achieve them.
What would help you make your life more enjoyable?
If your pain/arthritis/condition was cured overnight, what would you spend
tomorrow
doing?
Tell me why you need treatment.
What information have you found on your disease in books, the internet,
on TV and
from experts?
Question to parents: What are you afraid of happening if you give the responsibility
of
the care to your adolescent?
Orientation
