Adolescent Health Conditions Paper
In week 3 you learned about other common adolescent health conditions. Review the following case study and answer the following questions: An 18 year old white female presents to your clinic today with a 2 week history of intermittent abdominal pain. She also is positive for periodic cramping and diarrhea as well as low grade fever. She also notes reduced appetite. She notes that She admits smoking ½ PPD for the last 2 years.Adolescent Health Conditions Paper Denies any illegal drug or alcohol use. Does note a positive history of Crohn’s Disease. Based on the information provided answer the following questions: What are the top 3 differentials you would consider with the presumptive final diagnosis listed first? What focused physical exam findings would be beneficial to know? What diagnostic testing needs completed if any to confirm diagnosis? Using evidence based treatment guidelines note a treatment plan.
You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.Adolescent Health Conditions Paper
Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages.
Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor.
• The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.
Physical health problems occurring during adolescence can often complicate adolescent development. Illness, injury, medical treatments, hospitalization, and surgery can all intensify concerns about physical appearance, interfere with efforts to gain independence, and disrupt changing relationships with parents and friends. Also, adolescent developmental issues may complicate a teenager’s ability to cope with illness and response to treatment.
Chronic illness or disability occurs in an estimated 10 percent of individuals under the age of 17. While some of these youth have to cope with additional physical and mental disabilities as a result of their primary illness, all of them have to deal with the psychological consequences of their condition.Adolescent Health Conditions Paper
While a large part of adolescent medicine involves addressing the medical and treatment needs of the adolescent’s illness, condition, or injury, a significant component of adolescent medicine also anticipates and assesses developmental complications associated with the healthcare needs of the specific medical problem. Physicians and other healthcare providers in adolescent medicine assist adolescents and their families in developing strategies to deal with developmental issues and the complications and conflicts that may erupt between illness, treatment, and developmental needs.
Adolescence is a stage of development in human growth between childhood and adulthood it extends mainly over the teenage period and comes to an end legally when majority age is reached. It is characterized by the drastic physical changes that are occurring in their bodies. The dramatic and sudden physical changes they are experiencing naturally makes the stage to be full of self-consciousness, curiosity, and self concern on what goes on in their bodies, bodily changes, and surrounding environment; they compare themselves and their bodies with those of their peers. Adolescents normally undergo many health problems during their human development and growth, thus the main issue of this project is to highlight some of these health problems and give attention on how it has an effect on growth of the adolescents.Adolescent Health Conditions Paper
The adolescent developmental issue is chosen due to the huge impact health issues pose on youth development. Adolescences’ health problems are rampant in our current society and there is an urgent need to address them unless the youth faces a serious developmental growth that can ruin their future lives. These problems are normally complex and need an all-inclusive biopsychosocial approach.
A great amount of knowledge is gained in this paper, one is able to understand the nature of adolescence health problems and their health needs. Through the paper one is able to learn health-risk behaviors and related health concerns that adolescence pass trough in life and the corresponding means of addressing these problems. I hope to learn the various measures of dealing with adolescence health problems and the specific needs of the youths and means to improve and attain their various special health needs.
In order to understand well the various health problems faced by the adolescence, an interview with a special needs health expert was sought. Dr. Jones is famous psychological doctor; he deals with health problems in general and frequently handles cases of adolescence. He heads the department of Mental Unit in a local hospital. He holds a PhD in Psychology, masters in Clinical Health and he has been in the forefront in handling adolescence health problems among other health issues. Dr. Jones was chosen for the interview due to his immense knowledge and experience in handling adolescent’s problems, he has been practicing his profession for almost thirty years now and in many occasions has been helping the adolescents cope up with the psychological problems they undergo and in thus he is related to the topic of this project.
Literature Review
Adolescence is the most important stage in the development of human life. According to Marjorie and Phyllis (2003), the transitory stage is characterized by drastic changes and the several physical changes that make adolescence to have an extreme confused mental state as well. Besides the drastic changes faced by adolescents and general issues, health concerns are also a significant issue.Adolescent Health Conditions Paper
Most of the literature on studies conducted on adolescence health has a specific focus on drug abuse, sexual health and reproduction, mental health, nutrition and exercise. Adolescents are facing dramatic changes in their bodies and as young individuals, they are struggling to gain independence from the parents, they are forming relationships with friends, and aim at completing their studies for them to join social systems and the working class. Since health and development are correlated developmental issues, adolescents’ health is as important as adolescents’ development and assumes rather important fraction.
Among the recent work in this course is the work done by Vilma and Jolanta (2010) in their book Theory-based oral health education in adolescents. According to the authors, there is a close link between human development and health related character of adolescents and the health status of adults. Therefore it is necessary for interventions to be incorporated at an appropriate timing so as to ensure that success in health promotion is achieved. Vilma and Jolanta (2010), argue that for appropriate health on adolescence to be attained, health education approach is to be used which focuses on the kind of lifestyle, skills and knowledge, attitudes and personal behavior. During adolescence, unhealthy and unwanted behaviors are developed which become hard if not futile to abandon during adulthood and therefore need to intervene in adolescence period is important, this also shows how important is one’s health during adolescence as individual’s life is built at adolescence. The authors have that despite the various theories on health there is no one agreed intervention mode that is most efficient in adolescents’ health promotion. The various attempts to modify human development and behavior owe to be through understanding of principles of social behavior, interaction and developmental processes. The aim of this literature is to improve the probability of effectiveness in trying to treat negative social behavior. This theory is advocating for the use of effective methods for bringing behavioral change.Adolescent Health Conditions Paper
It is unfortunate that not all potentials to promote the health status of adolescence have been exploited; there is ample opportunity in areas of medicine that needs to be fully exploited. It is noted from this theory that the most effective way of handling health of adolescence is by using psychological models and theories rather than using conventional instructions. During adolescence, motive for health are not cognitive but emotional, this is because adolescence tend to value their outward appearance for example teeth, fresh breath, and image as a way to successful social interaction. It is thus through the same that health education in this category owe to be placed on the social implications and not health implications. Vilma and Jolanta (2010) suggest that adolescents’ health failure is shown through irrational thinking and impulsive behaviors.
Psychological models and theories concerning health and targeting specific age groups for example adolescents, might bear fruitful results molding health character and related behaviors than conventional methods. This theory argues that family plays an essential role in social support networks dealing with health education and related activities. While one is still young, the family members have a huge influence on his character, they are reported to be an essential source of health values, beliefs and habits. It is later in adolescence and early adulthood that parents and other members of the family act as supporting agents of specific health behaviors. It is noted that in adolescence, adolescents do not have material resources to buy necessary materials used in health, and thus they depend on parental willingness to provide specific materials such as fluoride dentifrices and toothbrushes or provision of appropriate food that boost their health. Accordingly, adolescence healthcare cannot be possible to attain without parents and other family members. It is known fact that the family attachment to the adolescence keeps reducing as peer influence increases. As adolescents grow older, their responsibility for their health shifts from parents to them but their emotional, social, and physical support and involvement by parents is still vital for their development.
Most literatures and researches that are being conducted or have been contacted all seek to find means to influence adolescents to adopt healthy behaviors. Health development and promotion research on adolescents are still being undertaken by various discipline not limited to psychology, sociology and medicine areas. Many theories by various scholars have been suggested to evaluate adolescents’ behavior and behavioral change (Petrie, Bunn, & Byrne, 2007). This theories considers effects of a model of character change as portrayed in protection motivation theory (Rogers, 1983). Studies have shown that adolescents’ involvement in substance trade could be a lead way to unlawful substance and drug use (Petrie et al., 2007). It is to be remembered that no attention has been accorded in the scientific literature to the extensive research findings and prevention programs that seeks to address adolescents’ drug abuse and involvement in other negative behaviors (Petrie et al., 2007).Adolescent Health Conditions Paper
Protection motivation theory (PMT) is one of the famous theories relating to adolescents’ health. It is a theory of behavioral change seeking to justify and explain the cognitive mediation process of behavioral change when one faces a threat and how one adjusts to it. This theory asserts that environment and personal components presents a significant risk to adolescent’s health. It states that environmental and individual factors combine to pose a potential health threat.
According to Marjorie and Phyllis (1996), health status of adolescents are numerous and are at a high risk mainly because of their exposure to illnesses and disorders that can be prevented. Adolescents face the problems of drug abuse, violence, and many health-related factors and they attributes all these problems to poverty levels, literacy rate, family failure, and dysfunction. Within the adolescents, general population racial and ethnic minorities have high chances of developing health problems and disorders.
According to Matton (2005) the most common problems in adolescence are related to adolescents growth and development; there are diseases from childhood that continue into adolescence development; mental illnesses,Adolescent Health Conditions Paper health disorders; and the many undesirable social behaviors among them violence, injury, trouble with law, early pregnancies, and sexually transmitted diseases. Unintentional but careless injuries resulting from negative behaviors such as car accidents and injuries that are as a result of personal violence and are leading causes of adolescent’s health problems, early death, and disability among the teenagers. Matton (2005), reckons that puberty is another huge health problem on the part of adolescence and concern parties especially when it occurs before nine years in a boy or before age of seven in a girl. Accordingly, precocious puberty is a condition that is brought about by the early release of specific sex hormones called gonadotropin and it is normally released from the pituitary gland. These hormones have an effect of promoting the development of ovaries or testes which in turns releases other sex hormones including estrogen or testosterone, these hormones are known to stimulate puberty. The early release gonadotropin may be due to a tumor or any other abnormality in the pituitary gland
In handling this situation, Matton (2005) recommends that should a child shows signs of premature, drastic progressing, or abnormal puberty, the doctors should take an X-ray of the hand and wrist so as to evaluate whether the bones are mature. He notes that if a child bone age is very complex, a comprehensive evaluation owe to be performed which may involve test of blood hormone levels. Ultrasounds of pelvis and adrenal glands could also be performed to identify adrenal tumors. Premature developments like pubic hair, underarm growth, and breast do not necessarily imply there is a problem but regular checkups are recommended.Adolescent Health Conditions Paper