Background: Adolescents are among those at most risk for acquiring sexually transmitted infections. Despite numerous strategies to increase STI knowledge, teens are not being reached as well by traditional preventative efforts. Texting is the preferred method of communication for adolescents who send and receive over 3417 text messages per month. Purpose: To examine the experiences of text messaging among urban adolescents and to explore their views on the potential for text messaging within adolescent sexual health services. Methods: Four focus groups were conducted with 21 adolescents in two community agencies in an urban setting. Results: Four themes emerged from the data: 1) connection to others and to self; 2) exerting control; 3) adolescents are generally receptive to texting in sexual health; 4) need to feel safe. Conclusions: Findings suggest ways in which health care organizations can adopt text messaging services and interventions to better serve adolescents’ needs.

This study is an exploratory examination of how different forms of child abuse affect adolescent victims. The study examines whether victims of physical abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, emotional abuse, or witnessing domestic violence exhibit negative functioning behaviours such as depression, drug use, or involvement in the Youth Criminal Justice Act. It also measures how abuse chronicity and poly-victimization moderate the relationship between the form of abuse and negative functioning. These relationships were quantitatively tested through three logistic regression models. It was found that there was a relationship between abuse type and negative functioning, and that chronicity and poly-victimization played important roles in determining functioning behaviours. This study contributes to the growing body of child abuse research that is attempting to build a comprehensive understanding of why and how abuse affects victims, and will inform service providers who could use such connections to identify and treat potential functioning problems in victims.

Moffitt (1993) proposed two trajectories for the development of criminal behaviour; one was life-course-persistent offenders with long histories of developmental and behavioural problems and the other was normally developing adolescence-limited offenders who engaged in criminal behaviour for a brief period during the teen years. Moffitt suggested that adolescence-limited offenders mimicked the behaviour of their life-course-persistent contemporaries in order to access the trappings of adulthood, a sign of the “maturity gap” that is hypothesised to occur between physical maturity and social acceptance into adult roles. Consistent with this, Bukowskiet al. (2000) found support for an increased attractiveness of antisocial peers during the adolescent years. The goal of the present study was to examine how young adolescents believe others would view different kinds of behaviour. Subjects from a longitudinal study on low socioeconomic families in Christchurch, NZ, completed a questionnaire where they indicated what they believed others would think if they engaged in pro-social, unconventional, and antisocial behaviours. Adolescents rated how they thought parents, same-sex peers, and attractive opposite-sex peers would perceive the different behaviours, and also indicated how they would perceive the same behaviours in an opposite-sex peer. Results showed that, overall, the sample did not think others would approve of antisocial behaviour, and that they would not approve of antisocial behaviour in an opposite-sex friend. However, differences in perceived approval were found when comparisons were made between boys and girls, and across variations in parenting styles of the adolescent’s caregivers. Differences were also found across indicators of different developmental trajectories, such that those youth who are probably on the life-course persistent trajectory expected less disapproval of antisocial behaviour in others than youth who are probably not on that trajectory. These results are partially consistent with Moffitt’s theory.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between adolescent work ethics and caregiver support and employment experiences. For this study, 114 adolescents from a local High School and their caregivers completed questionnaires. The adolescent’s questionnaire contained questions on demographics, caregivers support, perceptions of optimism and pessimism toward employment, and work ethics. The caregiver’s questionnaire included questions on demographics, educational attainment, and employment situation, status and type. Caregiver support and adolescents’ perceived optimism toward employment had a significant relationship with adolescents’ work ethics, where more support was associated with stronger work ethics, affecting a considerable number of the work ethic dimensions. The caregiver employment variables had a lesser impact, where any significant outcomes showed a relationship with only one or two of the adolescents’ work ethic dimensions. Overall, the caregiver group that was identified as primarily mothers had a stronger effect on the adolescents’ work ethics than the other caregiver group of mostly fathers. These findings suggest that caregiver support and the perceived optimism adolescents have toward employment, when evaluating their caregivers’ employment experiences, have a stronger influence on adolescents’ work ethics than the caregiver employment situation, status, or type. The implications of these findings are discussed.

No description available.

The purpose of this qualitative exploratory descriptive study was to arrive at an increased understanding of the factors influencing access to sexual and reproductive health services by rural Manitoban adolescents. Focus groups and individual interviews were held with 23 health care providers who provide sexual and reproductive health services to adolescents. The descriptive findings of this study revealed that a number of barriers for adolescents exist, which include: transportation difficulties, system barriers, and fear of lack of confidentiality. Recommendations included: creating health services that are adolescent-friendly: evening hours, remaining open during lunch-hour, and locating a clinic near a high school; increasing nurses scope of practice; encouraging multi-disciplinary referrals; improving relationships between public health nurses and the school division; and advocacy for adolescents’ to receive comprehensive sexual health information in school.

This study is an exploratory examination of how different forms of child abuse affect adolescent victims. The study examines whether victims of physical abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, emotional abuse, or witnessing domestic violence exhibit negative functioning behaviours such as depression, drug use, or involvement in the Youth Criminal Justice Act. It also measures how abuse chronicity and poly-victimization moderate the relationship between the form of abuse and negative functioning. These relationships were quantitatively tested through three logistic regression models. It was found that there was a relationship between abuse type and negative functioning, and that chronicity and poly-victimization played important roles in determining functioning behaviours. This study contributes to the growing body of child abuse research that is attempting to build a comprehensive understanding of why and how abuse affects victims, and will inform service providers who could use such connections to identify and treat potential functioning problems in victims.

The purpose of this qualitative exploratory descriptive study was to arrive at an increased understanding of the factors influencing access to sexual and reproductive health services by rural Manitoban adolescents. Focus groups and individual interviews were held with 23 health care providers who provide sexual and reproductive health services to adolescents. The descriptive findings of this study revealed that a number of barriers for adolescents exist, which include: transportation difficulties, system barriers, and fear of lack of confidentiality. Recommendations included: creating health services that are adolescent-friendly: evening hours, remaining open during lunch-hour, and locating a clinic near a high school; increasing nurses scope of practice; encouraging multi-disciplinary referrals; improving relationships between public health nurses and the school division; and advocacy for adolescents’ to receive comprehensive sexual health information in school.

Background: Many children in the world today grow up under very challenging circumstances. In Lesotho, the issue of HIV/AIDS, food-insecurity and poverty has caused the country several problems and statues a threat to the wellbeing of its young inhabitants. In those circumstances, adolescents’ capacity to face these challenges becomes a great part of the nurses’ work in the country. Aim: The aim of this study is to describe nurses’ experiences from strengthening capacity in vulnerable adolescents in a southern African nursing context. Method: Four qualitative, semi-structured interviews was conducted with nurses working at two different health care clinics for youth in Lesotho. The findings were analyzed through qualitative content analysis. Results: In the results, Resilience was identified as a core theme. This core theme was found to be encircled by four main themes: Nursing care, Strengthen capacity, Identify the whole and Challenges. Conclusion: Resilience was a concept used by all interviewed nurses and also the over-all goal of various nursing interventions. By using a holistic approach, the nurses viewed the whole person in his or her cultural and familial context. Thereafter different methods and techniques were used to build capacity in the adolescents and help them to face and overcome difficulties. Clinical relevance: Describing how nurses can help adolescents to build capacity can inspire nurses in all health care settings to implement nursing interventions and hence build resilience. / <p>Röda Korsets sjuksköterskeförening stipendium 2015</p>

There has been relatively little research on social skills training with young adolescents. Yet adolescence is a key stage in the life cycle, and may well be important for the development of social skills. There is evidence that difficulty with the peer group early in life may be a risk factor for a range of personal problems at a later stage in the life cycle. The research programme sought to evaluate the use of group social skills training with young adolescents in a school setting, and to identify the most useful component. In the first experiment nine young adolescents aged 12-13 were identified as having social skills difficulty. The intervention took the form of a group programme of ten social skills training sessions with a strong individualised component. On measures of social competence and self-report significant gains were made which were maintained at six month follow-up. On a measure of sociometric status there was significant gain by the time of follow-up. A non-equivalent problem-free no-treatment control group (n = 10) of like age made no significant gains on any of the variables measured. There were significant differences between the control group and the treatment group in social competence and sociometric status prior to treatment, but none post treatment nor at follow-up. Using MANOVA a main effect for time was found for the combined measures of social competence and self-report. In the second experiment 41 young adolescents aged 12-13 were allocated to an individualised training (IT) Group (n = 14), a standardised training (ST) Group (n = 13) and a no treatment control group (ii = 14). Therapist effects were controlled by crossing over therapists, so that equal numbers of each group were trained by each pair of therapists. The programme ran over 2 years. A group comparison design taken together with single case designs provided evidence for the effectiveness of the interventions and for the relative superiority of individua].ised training over standardised training. Dependent measures included a self-report questionnaire, a sociometric questionnaire, a behavioural interview schedule, a role-taking test, a social assertiveness test, and a clinical change rating. There was no main effect for type of problem (rejected vs neglected) nor for subject gender. Data relating to therapist performance suggested that therapist effects might make a substantial difference to outcome. It was concluded from the two experiments that the treatments were generally effective and able to produce generalisation, that the individualised approach worked rather better than the standardised approach, and that it was important to control for therapist effects.