Résumé
Background Preventive care is important to the international primary care system. In adolescents, several prevention areas need to be addressed; for example, sexual health, mental health, substance use and addiction, physical activity, screen use, and social relationships. However, consultations with adolescents are complex, which puts health professionals in a difficult position. While there are professional recommendations in many countries, they focus on a single theme. Aim To understand the preventive approaches taken by GPs in consultation with adolescents. Design & setting This was a qualitative study using semi-structured interviews with French GPs. Method Participants were recruited following direct requests and sampled using the snowball sampling method. Analysis was conducted using grounded theory for the identification of conceptualising categories. Results Twelve interviews led to the emergence of the following four conceptualising categories: 1) the characteristics of adolescents make the preventive approach complex and generate a fear of failure for GPs; 2) the world of the adolescent is foreign to the GP, which is detrimental to developing an empathic relationship between them, negatively impacting prevention; 3) the GP, as an individual, approaches adolescent prevention in the context of their own experiences (parenthood, their own adolescence, and professional practices) and interpersonal skills; and 4) GPs propose an optimised prevention approach for adolescents. Conclusion GPs are opportunistic in terms of providing preventive care for adolescent patients. Any occasion for consultation should be a chance for a preventive action, whatever the initial motive. GPs require tools and consultations dedicated to prevention to optimise their approaches. A further qualitative study looking at the experiences of adolescents seen by their GPs would be an interesting way of completing our understanding of the prevention carried out during these consultations.