Healthier Future of adolescence and health

Adolescence health

2. Why Adolescence?
•Time of growth and development
–Pivotal change occurs biologically,
cognitively, emotionally, and socially
•Habits formed now have been shown to
persist throughout adulthood

3. Why Adolescence?
•Establishing healthy behaviors now is
easier and more effective than trying to
change unhealthy behaviors in
adulthood
•Majority of mortality due to behaviors
that are preventable

4. ICIAH Mission
•To promote optimal health and well-
being for all Hoosier adolescents with
an emphasis on prevention and access
to quality, comprehensive health care

5. ICIAH Goals
•Increase awareness of health issues
impacting adolescents
•Provide support and accurate health
resource information to adolescents
andthose who serve and care for
adolescents

6. ICIAH Goals
•Encourage collaboration among
agencies and organizations whose
services and decisions affect
adolescents' health

7. Defining Adolescence
•National Initiative to Improve Adolescent
Health (NIIAH)
–Collaborative effort to improve the health,
safety, and well-being of adolescents and
young adults
–Launched by CDC Division of Adolescent
and School Health and MCHB Office of
Adolescent Health
•10 to 14 years old: younger adolescents
•15 to 19 years old: older adolescents
•20 to 24 years old: emerging adults

8. Hoosier Adolescents’ Health

9. Framework
•Healthy People 2010
–21 Critical Objectives for Adolescents and
Young Adults
•Positive Youth Development

10. Positive Youth Development
•Recognition that all young people must
acquire certain strengths, skills, and
competencies–academic, emotional,
social, and/or physical–in order to
achieve a happy, healthy, and
productive adulthood.

11. Positive Youth Development
•Young people will develop in positive
ways when their communities and
relationships provide the resources for
them to gain these abilities.

12. Hoosier Adolescents’ Health
•Assessment of health risk behavior data
and morbidity and mortality data
•Identified 10 priority health issues

13. Ten Priorities
•Access to Care
–Refers to the capability of adolescents to
receive needed health care from providers
skilled in the care of adolescents
•Prevention
–Addresses health risks that could be
avoided with proper intervention

14. Access-to-Care Priorities
•Health Care Capacity
•Health Insurance
•Mental Health Services

15. Prevention Priorities
•Binge Drinking
•Cigarette Smoking
•Dating Violence
•Motor Vehicle Fatalities
•Obesity
•Sexually Transmitted Infections
•Suicide

16. Ten Priorities
•Current Picture
•Changing the Picture
•Equation for Success

17. Case Study

18. Engaging Adolescents
•How do adolescents view health and
wellness?
•What are adolescents’ health concerns?

19. Engaging Adolescents
•Six one-hour focus groups
•6-10 adolescents per group
•Urban, rural (north and south), Latino,
college, teen parents

21. Engaging Adolescents
•Discussion
–Physical Health
–Psychological Health
–Social Support
–Health Communication
•Personal responsibility
•Shared responsibility

22. Engaging Adolescents
•Connection
–Someone to talk to who is willing to listen
and can share similar experiences
•Positive and non-judgmental
–Relationships encourage self-worth and
support healthy behaviors
•Respect
–Honest and truthful information
given to them

23. Connection
“The first time I met her [the adult coordinator of
a youth leadership group] was this year, but I
knew from like the beginning she was nice
and I felt comfortable around her. The way
she talks to you like she do, she keeps it real.
She be like ‘You do this, you do this, you
gonna have these consequences. But if you
need somebody even you make a mistake,
you can come to me.’ See people don’t say
that, they just tell you your mistake
and your consequence.”

24. Connection
“I have a pastor at my church that’s really
good…but he was the rock n’ roll type,
you know the partying. He finally turned
his life around. He helps all of the youth
at our church. Any kind of problems
they have got, he has been through it.”

25. Positive and Non-judgmental
“Why don’t people take the initiative and
give a compliment to somebody like
once a day like, ‘You look nice,’ or that
can help people with emotional stress,
you know.”

26. Positive and Non-judgmental
“I mean, like don’t use your personal
judgment and your personal opinion on
my schooling. Like, when I’m in school
that’s my focus. Yeah, I have a kid, and
yeah, I think about him every minute,
but I’m here to learn….Your job is to
teach me. You’re not getting paid to
like, criticize me about having a
kid at my age.”

27. Respect
“Last year we had this family that came in and
they juggled and they did all these circus acts
and then they’re like, “Don’t have drugs! So
you can do what we do.” … I think it was
almost worse than actually helpful because I
mean, people laughed…I think it’s better for
someone to just be serious with them,
someone from a town or a place like theirs
and just be serious and talk to them.”

28. Respect
“I am terrified of doctors, like I won’t go
and half the time it’s because I tell them
I can’t take pills and then they prescribe
me ten pills. Like I can’t swallow them,
like it just doesn’t work with my body.
So… and then, on top of that, half the
time some of them are just rude. Like
they don’t believe what you say
because of your age.”

29. How will you use the plan?

30. Uses for the Plan
•Staff/grantee education
•Program or resource development
•Influence health policy
•Data and support for grant proposals
•Raise awareness and understanding
•Identify recommendations you can put
into action
•Share and explore resources

31. Indiana Coalition to Improve
Adolescent Health
•INadolescenthealth.org