Protecting Youth Confidentiality and Privacy: Medication Administration in Camp Settings

Teens often experience stigma related to mental illness, including negative attitudes and internalized feelings about psychiatric medications. Group settings, such as school and camp, present challenges regarding confidentiality due to inadvertent disclosure of medication to others in these settings. In camp settings, adolescents meet new people and are trying to form friendships; however, fear of inadvertent disclosure of mental health diagnosis and treatment may be exacerbated by the need for social acceptance among new peers. Unfortunately, no studies of camp medication administration practices have been conducted. In order to address this concern and try to determine potential administration policies that would better protect camper confidentiality, a convenience sample of 41 camp nurses completed an anonymous online survey. Participants described their camp setting, current medication administration practices and shared perceptions of two recommended confidentiality and privacy practices: (1) educating and training counselors to provide certain medications, and (2) allowing campers to request one-on-one medication administration with the nurse if desired. Participants were primarily female, BSN prepared, and had an average of 17.5 years nursing experience and 5 years camp nurse experience. All worked at overnight camps that primarily served youth from grade school to high school. Participants perceived that one-on-one sessions provided greater privacy and were more feasible when compared to counselor training. They also made recommendations for methods to improve the effectiveness of privacy protections. These suggestions warrant investigation and form the basis for a follow-up survey to be administered to individuals who volunteered to be included in further research.Bachelor of Scienc