New Canadian guidance recommends confidential, universal education about healthy relationships and careful support when abuse is disclosed
Thunder Bay – Living — Health-care providers should speak with adolescent patients about healthy relationships during routine visits, the Canadian Paediatric Society says, after national data found about one in three young people had experienced dating violence.
The society’s new practice guidance covers physical, sexual, psychological and technology-assisted abuse, as well as stalking, in dating, sexual or romantic relationships involving someone under 18.
Teens often can feel peer pressure, and in dating situations may be afraid if they step back or break off a relationship it can impact their social standing.
The one-in-three estimate comes from a nationally representative sample of 3,064 students in grades 9 and 10 who took part in the 2021-22 Canadian Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study. It measures violence experienced in the previous 12 months and should not be read as a count of every Canadian teenager.
The society says dating violence can affect youth of any gender or sexual identity. Rates are higher for some youth facing disability, racism, unstable care, discrimination or other forms of marginalization.
The guidance recommends the CUES approach: explain confidentiality and its limits, give universal education to all adolescent patients, and provide support if violence is disclosed. Clinicians are advised to speak with adolescents alone for part of each visit and to make clear when safety concerns require information to be shared.
The goal is not to press young people to disclose abuse. It is to make the clinic a place where they know they can ask for help, now or later, and to connect them with appropriate services when needed.
Digital safety is part of the advice. A controlling partner may monitor web searches, messages or location data, so a QR code or online resource is not always the safest option. Providers are encouraged to ask whether printed information would be safer.
The society also says any disclosure should be met without judgment and followed by a timely in-person assessment. Resources should include young people of all sexual and gender identities.
The practice point is guidance for clinicians, not a new legal reporting rule or a diagnosis. Provincial and territorial laws still govern consent, confidentiality and duties to report concerns about a young person’s safety.
For families and schools, the findings underline the value of clear conversations about respect, consent, boundaries and digital privacy before a crisis occurs. Health systems will now have to decide how the recommendations fit into busy primary-care, emergency and virtual-care settings.
