According to the Guidelines for Adolescent Preventive Care (GAPS), it is recommended for all adolescents aged from 11 to 21 to pass an annual examination (Neinstein, Gordon, Katzman, & Rosen, 2009). There are three components of the above recommendation, including physical, psychosocial, and biomedical screenings. Physical and biomedical aspects imply regular screenings associated with hypertension, eating disorders, alcohol and tobacco consumption, sexually-transmitted diseases, tuberculin test, urinalysis, etc. (Field et al., 2014). As for psychosocial screenings, one may enumerate emotional behaviors, learning problems, and so on. Along with blood tests, computed tomography, and roentgen, adolescents may prefer either personal interviews or screening questionnaires in order to reveal sensitive information. Specifically, the given patient also should pass sex-related screenings to eliminate the occurrence of corresponding diseases.
Parents should receive guidance regarding their adolescent’s health, as noted by Neinstein et al. (2009). However, their presence is not required for all examinations, and adolescents may prefer to discuss some sensitive issues face-to-face with their nurse or doctor. It should be emphasized, nevertheless, that in case an adolescent feels comfortable discussing his or her health together with parents and a nurse, it demonstrates proper family relationships along with confidence (Angley, Divney, Magriples, & Kershaw, 2015). It is appropriate if a nurse would ask the patient whether he wants his mother to remain in the examination room or not as such an approach would reflect respect for the patient’s privacy.
As a health promotion idea, an adult-gerontology nurse may use health guidance for parents. The mentioned strategy targets close communication between parents and adolescents based on the establishment of trustworthy relationships in a long-term period (Coyne, 2015). The provision of health guidance for parents implies the collaboration between them and a nurse directed to the increase of understanding between them and their adolescent, resulting in attentive support to changing needs of the latter. In other words, the core of the specified strategy lies in explaining how to notice their adolescent’s altering behaviors, emotions, and physical changes and how to adequately react to them. This approach seems to be helpful for both the mother and the adolescent since they need to comprehend each other better and care about their family.
It seems appropriate to utilize Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drug Abuse (ATODA) screening tool to reveal any adverse impacts and provide subsequent intervention, if necessary (Neinstein et al., 2009). In case the patient experiences some difficulties with his peers and shows misconduct, ATODA screening and program are helpful in terms of the availability of preventive education and increasing awareness of the given health issue. The application of the mentioned screening tool is also beneficial for the patient’s academic success and relationships with his family and peers (Kelly et al., 2014). One more tool that is relevant for the given situation refers to the Beck Depression Inventory-II – an instrument that helps to determine the presence of depression signs (Wang & Gorenstein, 2013). Paying attention to the fact that the patient’s mother worries about her son’s friends and his decreasing grades, it is possible to suggest that he may need some assistance with overcoming psychological difficulties. Furthermore, some screening tools administered to examine a family function and behavioral deviations may be applied to the identified adolescent patient (Harris, Louis-Jacques, & Knight, 2014). Thus, the pivotal goal of the above screenings is to detect potential health problems based on the patient’s current health indicators.
References
Angley, M., Divney, A., Magriples, U., & Kershaw, T. (2015). Social support, family functioning and parenting competence in adolescent parents. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 19(1), 67-73.
Coyne, I. (2015). Families and health‐care professionals’ perspectives and expectations of family‐centred care: Hidden expectations and unclear roles. Health Expectations, 18(5), 796-808.
Field, A. E., Sonneville, K. R., Crosby, R. D., Swanson, S. A., Eddy, K. T., Camargo, C. A.,… Micali, N. (2014). Prospective associations of concerns about physique and the development of obesity, binge drinking, and drug use among adolescent boys and young adult men. JAMA Pediatrics, 168(1), 34-39.
Harris, S. K., Louis-Jacques, J., & Knight, J. R. (2014). Screening and brief intervention for alcohol and other abuse. Adolescent Medicine: State of the Art Reviews, 25(1), 126-156.
Kelly, S. M., Gryczynski, J., Mitchell, S. G., Kirk, A., O’Grady, K. E., & Schwartz, R. P. (2014). Validity of brief screening instrument for adolescent tobacco, alcohol, and drug use. Pediatrics, 133(5), 819-826.
Neinstein, L. S., Gordon, C. M., Katzman, D. K., & Rosen, D. S. (Eds.). (2009). Handbook of adolescent health care. Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Wang, Y. P., & Gorenstein, C. (2013). Psychometric properties of the Beck Depression Inventory-II: A comprehensive review. Revista Brasileira de Psiquiatria, 35(4), 416-431.