The Current Challenges Of Adolescents

Adolescence is popularly known to be a very tumultuous stage in a person’s life. In the adolescent stage (also coined the identity vs. role confusion stage by theorist Erik Erikson) bodies are changing rapidly, emotions are unfamiliar and unexplainable, and refraining from succumbing to peer pressure is more challenging than ever.

Youth is a time when individuals experiment with and get into trouble with psychoactive substances, including nicotine-containing e-cigarettes. In 2014, 44.4% of 12th-graders had ever used marijuana/hashish, and 35.1% had used in the past year; 41.4% reported being drunk in the past year. Users of one type of psychoactive substance are more likely to use others, like caffeine, alcohol, nicotine, THC or prescription

It’s no surprise that adolescents tend to withhold some of their personal information from their parents for a variety of reasons. When the health of the adolescent in concerned, on the other hand, how should the situation be handled? Teenagers are an extremely vulnerable population due to the many changes, stresses, and difficulties that they experience during their everyday life. This is the time in which adolescents value their privacy the most. The same goes for how they handle their medical situations. When they are just going in for a yearly checkup, a vaccine, or a common illness, most teenagers have no problem sharing the information with their parents to ensure that they are well taken care of. Also, teens typically rely on

The primary prevention topic of this community healthy and population field experience is related to the Healthy People 2020 goal to “reduce substance abuse to protect the health, safety, and quality of life for all, especially children.” (Healthy People 2020, 2018). This topic correlates with the Roanoke Valley’s increase in fatal drug overdoses and the public health emergency that was declared by the Virginia state health commissioner in 2016, related to the opioid addiction crisis (Virginia Department of Health, 2016). While all members of the community are affected by this health concern, the primary focus of this assessment will be on the effects of and prevention of substance abuse within the areas youth.

76% of teens use social media of these 71% use Facebook, 52% use Instagram, and 41% use snap-chat. This is about teens who are always on social media and not getting off their phone, and who do not make true friends offline. We should not not be on social media all the time because it could ruin your friendships.

What were the Research Questions or Hypotheses in the article? Copy them directly from the article. Then, using YOUR OWN WORDS, briefly paraphrase what these mean. 5 points

Although research shows that adolescent use is harmful to developing brains, Dr. Kevin Hill of McLean Hospital's Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse commented, “The growing body of research that includes this study suggests that medical marijuana laws do not increase adolescent use and future decisions that states make about whether or not to enact medical marijuana laws should be at least partly guided by this evidence” (Borchardt). Other research is showing that pot use is increasing among teens-- ironically though, that increase is not in the states where it is legal. The National Survey on Drug Use points out that marijuana has consistently been the most accessible illicit drug since 1975 when 81% of teens reported they could get it, before

helping prevent a rise in future drug and alcohol abuse. Parents, employers, and school campuses can all

Healthy People 2020 Health and Human Prevention strategy I chose is the National Drug Control Strategy. Drug abuse affects the whole nation economically, socially physically and mentally. Some of the problems caused by drug abuse includes highway accidents, crimes, school drop outs, sexually transmitted diseases, suicide, and teenage pregnancies (Healthy People 2020 n.d). This is a relevant topic to the advanced nurse practitioner because of the effects drugs have on human life. Drug abuse is associated with cardiac failure, mental problems, pulmonary and infectious diseases. According to president Obama’s remark illicit drugs and its consequences challenges that dream of the nation which is to build a safer and healthier country for our children. (Whitehouse.gov, n.d)It is the duty of the nurse practitioner to create awareness on the dangers of drug abuse and also help in the treatment of patients dealing with drug abuse. These treatments include patient education on the importance of abstaining from illicit drugs, medication and group therapy. Further more the advance nurse practitioner follows up with drug abuse patients to avoid relapse and for support.

Healthy People 2020 identified drug abuse as a health priority that affects everyone. Drug use increases pregnancy complications, increases domestic violence, increases child abuse, and increases suicide to name a few. (healthypeople.gov) If drug abuse is decreased the wellbeing of the population increases. One of the ways Healthy People 2020 proposes to combat the situation is through life skills in the schools, whose objectives is to prevent drug abuse. Belvidere already has an antidrug program.

The district I decided to analyze was Marysville Joint Unified School District. I have had the pleasure to teach in this district for almost a year now. As a physical education teacher, it is important to understand the health habits of my students. If students are not taking care of their bodies the chances of them living a long time diminishes. After analyzing the survey, I noticed that in this district there are major signs of drug and alcohol use. Over their lifetime 43% of 11th graders have used alcohol and 34 % have used marijuana. 29% of the 11th graders have drunk alcohol 4 or more times and 23% have used marijuana 4 or more times. This made me why these percentages are so high at such an early age. I wanted to see parent involvement

Community lifestyle preventions: Saltville has several signs, posters, and even educational sessions involving driving safety. The medical clinic in Saltville has pamphlets and teaching programs on smoking preventions and substance abuse. Though from random survey I conducted 7/8 people believe that substance abuse is a major problem. When asking several high school students what they thought the biggest problem with their school was Jade Wyatt, senior at Northwood High School, stated, “Drug use a big problem with our community, especially in our schools.”, another student Katelyn Blevins, 10th grader, responded “I would say drug use is a major problem that seems to be constantly ignored in our school, but also health care access. You see so many people that are sick, but they can’t afford to visit the doctor due because they don’t have the financial ability”. A student who wishes to remain anonymous reported the use of drugs in the bathrooms at school, the usage include marijuana and vaping. The neighboring community of Chilhowie has a RU program that helps with substance

The Healthy People 2003 objectives compared to the 2020 objectives pertaining to preventing disease and injury, improving health and enhancing quality of life of the adolescent, reports were similar. The objective goals from 2020 and 2003 were both geared towards supporting the same concept that promoted a healthcare system that would improve adolescent health services; workforce preparation; and access to health services.The report issues a set of recommendations for improving adolescent health services in primary, public, private healthcare systems, which are vital to high-quality adolescent wellness checkups. The recommendations addressed rights to privacy and confidentiality,clinical providers, workforce preparation, health insurance,

Most of the problems facing today’s youth are not restricted to any one ethnic or religious group, but affect young people generally. Most discussions on youth have focussed on issues such as drug abuse, crime, violence, sexuality and poverty. In addition to these, today’s youth are afflicted by new challenges.

Academia education is considered an integral part of a child’s upbringing, and therefore it remains highly important to require academic institutions to educate and inform students regarding substance use and its consequences. SAMHSA recommends instituting programs at an early age, for example, the Good Behavior Game introduced in elementary schools, is a management strategy aimed at reducing aggressive, disruptive classroom behavior, a risk factor for adolescent and illicit drug abuse (SAMHSA, 2016). Similarly the focus group participants mentioned that Academia Education from K-12 grade needs to incorporate evidence-based programs in the academic curriculum in addressing alcohol and other drug use among the youth. NH young adults emphasized the importance of introducing substance misuse education in early school age from elementary while strengthening the current health curriculum in middle and high schools.