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The GAPS in Practice

Anne Gadomski, MD, MPH; Shannon Bennett, BS; Margaret Young, MD; Lawrence S. Wissow, MD, MPH

Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2003;157:426-432.

Design  Pre– and post–Guidelines for Adolescent Preventive Services (GAPS) comparison of outcomes gathered via chart audit.

Setting  A rural hospital-based general pediatric clinic.

Participants  Adolescents who underwent annual examinations between April 1, 1998, and March 31, 2001. A random sample of 441 medical records was reviewed.

Intervention  Training in the GAPS model and use of the questionnaire began in April 1998.

Main Outcome Measures  Detection of, discussion of, and referrals for GAPS-related risk behavior.

Results  The medical records of 162 younger adolescents (aged 11-15 years) and 279 older adolescents (aged 16-19 years) were audited. Detection of risk behaviors increased from 19% at baseline to 95% with the initial GAPS and 87% with the periodic GAPS. The most prevalent risk factor was having a rifle or gun in the home (younger adolescents, 47% and older adolescents, 39%). The mean number of risk behaviors and health concerns documented was higher in the initial GAPS (4.8 and 1.3, respectively) than in the periodic GAPS (3.8 and 0.7) (P = .01 and .006). The GAPS questionnaires detected lower levels of risk behavior compared with a local Youth Risk Behavior Survey. Controlling for sex, age, and clinician, discussion of psychosocial topics increased during the study period; however, there was considerable variation among clinicians regarding the topics addressed. The GAPS-related referral rate did not change significantly.

Conclusion  The GAPS model increases clinicians' detection and discussion of risk behaviors.

From the Bassett Research Institute (Dr Gadomski) and the Department of Adult and Pediatric Medicine (Dr Young), Bassett Healthcare, Cooperstown, NY; the Laboratory for Clinical Studies, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md (Ms Bennett); and the Department of Health Policy and Management, School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md (Dr Wissow). Mr Bennett is now with the Department of Neuroscience, School of Medicine, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY.

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