Adolescent Health is gaining more attention now than ever before, however there are still a lot of improvements required in order to try and reduce the inequalities that adolescents face compared to children and adults. It is vital that more focus is put onto this age group not only for the benefit of adolescents themselves but for society and a for a safe and secure future (Kleinhert and Horton 2016). Adolescence can be a time of excitement and positive changes, many adolescents report to have good physical and mental health and manage to negotiate their way through this stage with little negative outcomes. However, it is a period in life where there is an increased risk for health issues, greatly influenced by many factors but particularly
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Screening for risks by ensuring that adolescents have psychosocial risk assessments undertaken by staff equipped with the skills and knowledge to carry out these assessments, increases the chances of them receiving a comprehensive service that adopts a preventative health approach preventing problems before they occur rather than being treatment focused (Secor- Turner, Randall, Brennan, Anderson and Gross 2014). It is known that adolescents are willing and wanting to discuss topics such as sexual health, Alcohol and drug abuse and mental health issues but they don’t openly discuss these issues or commence the conversations through fear of being judged and concerns of confidentiality (Secor- Turner, Randall, Brennan, Anderson and Gross 2014). In addition to the design and implementation of the training day the outcomes will also be assed to ensure that the training day is producing positive outcomes. This could be done by collecting data of the number of people who attended the course, evaluating and receiving feedback on their own knowledge and skills and then measuring the number of adolescents are receiving psycho social risk screening and appropriate interventions and referrals after attending hospital. Collecting data is a powerful mechanism that can aid in gathering a realistic picture of adolescent health and well-being (Sawyer and Patton 2011). Patton et al (2016) suggest that a major contributor in adolescents being left behind is due to a lack of data in health statistics which as led to their needs not being
Screening for risks by ensuring that adolescents have psychosocial risk assessments undertaken by staff equipped with the skills and knowledge to carry out these assessments, increases the chances of them receiving a comprehensive service that adopts a preventative health approach preventing problems before they occur rather than being treatment focused (Secor- Turner, Randall, Brennan, Anderson and Gross 2014). It is known that adolescents are willing and wanting to discuss topics such as sexual health, Alcohol and drug abuse and mental health issues but they don’t openly discuss these issues or commence the conversations through fear of being judged and concerns of confidentiality (Secor- Turner, Randall, Brennan, Anderson and Gross 2014). In addition to the design and implementation of the training day the outcomes will also be assed to ensure that the training day is producing positive outcomes. This could be done by collecting data of the number of people who attended the course, evaluating and receiving feedback on their own knowledge and skills and then measuring the number of adolescents are receiving psycho social risk screening and appropriate interventions and referrals after attending hospital. Collecting data is a powerful mechanism that can aid in gathering a realistic picture of adolescent health and well-being (Sawyer and Patton 2011). Patton et al (2016) suggest that a major contributor in adolescents being left behind is due to a lack of data in health statistics which as led to their needs not being