Preventive Health Guidelines
There is broad national agreement that all adolescents should receive a regular set of preventive services.
Below are a few of the most recognized preventive health guidelines for this population.
Adolescent Health Services: Missing Opportunities (2009)
Developed by the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) and National Research Council’s (NRC) joint Board on Children, Youth and Families, this report provides policy and research recommendations that highlight critical adolescent health needs, promising models of health services, and components of care that could strengthen and improve services for adolescents and contribute to healthy adolescent development. The authors provide eleven recommendations directed to public and private entities for investing in, strengthening, and improving health services for adolescents.
Bright Futures from the Maternal and Child Health Bureau
Bright Futures is a national health promotion initiative dedicated to the principle that every child deserves to be healthy and that optimal health involves a trusting relationship between the health professional, the child, the family, and the community as partners in health practice. On the site www.brightfutures.org/ you will find publications, distance education opportunities, training tools and other resources.
Health Policy
Public health has a critical role to play in assessing and addressing the health of adolescents. Among the ten essential public health services in place to guide professionals in the promotion of adolescent health, there are several which pertain to health policy:
- Mobilizing community partnerships among policy makers, healthcare providers, youth, families, the general public and other to identify and address adolescent health issues.
- Providing leadership for priority-setting, planning and policy development to support community efforts that promote and maximize the health of adolescents.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 and Adolescent Health
Passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, referred to as Health Care Reform, will bring about profound changes in the way health care is organized and delivered in the United States . The new law presents an extraordinary opportunity to advance the health and well-being of adolescents and young adults, as well as extraordinary challenges for professionals in policy and service delivery arenas.
Below are several resources that discuss the provisions of the bill that directly impact adolescents and young adults, as well as implications for professionals.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010: How Does it Help Adolescents and Young Adults? (2010)
Produced by the Center for Adolescent Health & the Law, this fact sheet discusses the major provisions of Health Care Reform and provides an implementation timeline of requirements that are key to adolescents and young adults.
The Commonwealth Fund Health Reform Resource Center
This site provides numerous publications related to health care reform, as well as relevant policy updates as they are made.
Policy Guides
The following resources have been identified as key national policy priorities and useful guiding principles to follow when working with adolescent populations.
Healthy People 2020
New in Healthy People 2020, adolescents have their own set of goals and objectives set by Healthy People 2020. This website provides an overview of the goals and objectives, as well as intervention information and resources for professionals.
Trends in Adolescent Health and Young Adult Health in the United States (2009)
This review presents a national health profile of adolescents and young adults (age 10-24). The data presented include trends on demographics, mortality, health-related behaviors, and healthcare access and utilization, as well as the most significant gender and racial/ethnic disparities. Policy and research recommendations are outlined as well.
Improving Adolescent Health (pdf) (2005)
A comprehensive document which provides an overview of six policy goals around adolescent health: improving access and environments; increasing the role of schools in health; promoting positive health; and improving transitions to adulthood and collaborative relationships. These emerged from a synthesis of the recommendations that were selected from the 36 source documents that were reviewed for this report. It is a product of the National Adolescent Health Information Center (NAHIC) of the University of California San Francisco.
Tracking Adolescent Health Policy, An Annotated List
This brief presents an annotated list of organizations and agencies that monitor trends in state and federal policies related to the areas covered by the 21 Critical Objectives.
The Public Policy Analysis and Education Center for Middle Childhood and Adolescent Health aims to identify and analyze the effects of public policies on the health and well-being of young people and their families by examining the relationship between the health status of young people and service delivery systems and the environmental determinants of health and development.