Including at-risk adolescents in their own health and mental health care: A youth development perspective

Angela Diaz, Ken Peake, Michael Surko, Kalpana Bhandarkar

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

18 Scopus citations

Abstract

As urban adolescents encounter serious health and mental health risks, they present the allied health professions with important opportunities for health promotion and risk reduction interventions. However, the prevailing emphasis on adolescents' risk behaviors rather than on their vulnerability has limited our capacity to understand and serve them. Further limiting are the widely held myths that adolescents as a whole have few health problems and that they are poor judges of their own needs. This article presents an overview of current theories of adolescent risk and vulnerability and suggests Youth Development as an overarching framework for understanding both. Experience within a comprehensive, adolescent health and mental health center demonstrates how to meaningfully engage adolescents in their own health care from the start.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)3-22
Number of pages20
JournalSocial Work in Mental Health
Volume3
Issue number1-2
DOIs
StatePublished - 2004

Keywords

  • Adolescent
  • Mental health
  • Professional competencies
  • Risk
  • Vulnerability
  • Youth development

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Including at-risk adolescents in their own health and mental health care: A youth development perspective'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this