At Home, at School, and in the Community: “They Get All Ask-y About It”
When the teens talked about their life at home with their family and at school with their friends, there was considerable variation on their CHD being a foreground or a background issue. This seemed consistent with their developmental stage of striving to separate themselves from their peers and families while still needing the protection of being a member of a large group. This was most evident when the teens spoke of how they chose to disclose the details of their heart health history to their family (both immediate and extended) and to a selected few at school and in the larger community. How many details disclosed and the manner in which they conveyed these details depended on whom they were with and the nature of their interactions.