This practical, easy-to-use guide is a staple in health care facilities that treat adolescents, is widely used for board preparation, and is recommended by the American College of Physicians for their internal medicine library. The substance abuse section has been completely reorganized, and new chapters cover psychosomatic illness as well as complementary medicine.

Adolescent Health Care: Clinical Issues provides an understanding of the main health problems and concerns facing teenagers. This book discusses the major legal decisions and thinking on confidentiality, consent, minor's right to health services, and the limitations of parental and medical authority. Organized into seven parts encompassing 27 chapters, this book begins with an overview of the main issues faced by any health care provider working with adolescents. This text then discusses the ways in which youths visualize their own health problems. Other chapters consider the normal nutritional needs of the teenager as well as the physically- and learning-impaired segment of the adolescent population. This book discusses as well the development of childhood sexuality from infancy through adolescence. The final chapter deals with counseling issues with specific recommendations on how to work with the teenager in crisis. This book is a valuable resource for medical practitioners, psychiatrists, physiologists, nutritionists, and social workers.

Increasing public investments in health care services for low-income and special needs children and adolescents in the United States have raised questions about whether these efforts improve their health outcomes. Yet it is difficult to assess the general health status and health care quality for younger populations, especially those at risk of poor health outcomes, because the United States has no national information system that can provide timely, comprehensive, and reliable indicators in these areas for children and adolescents. Without such a system in place, it is difficult to know whether and how selected health care initiatives and programs contribute to children's health status. Child and Adolescent Health and Health Care Quality identifies key advances in the development of pediatric health and health care quality measures, examines the capacity of existing federal data sets to support these measures, and considers related research activities focused on the development of new measures to address current gaps. This book posits the need for a comprehensive strategy to make better use of existing data, to integrate different data sources, and to develop new data sources and collection methods for unique populations. Child and Adolescent Health and Health Care Quality looks closely at three areas: the nature, scope, and quality of existing data sources; gaps in measurement areas; and methodological areas that deserve attention. Child and Adolescent Health and Health Care Quality makes recommendations for improving and strengthening the timeliness, quality, public transparency, and accessibility of information on child health and health care quality. This book will be a vital resource for health officials at the local, state, and national levels, as well as private and public health care organizations and researchers.

Several positive and negative lifelong behaviors are established during adolescence including diet and exercise, sexual conduct, practices related to oral health, smoking, drinking, and the use if legal and illegal substances. The complex issues that adolescents deal with on a daily basis can turn into health problems that persist throughout adulthood. Unfortunately the adolescents who are frequently the most disconnected from routine health care services - those who lack insurance and family support - are often those at greatest risk for multiple and chronic health problems. Therefore, those that are responsible for delivering health care services to adolescents must address the health conditions that require immediate attention while preparing young people to adopt practices that can help improve their future health status and prevent unhealthy behaviors. Challenges in Adolescent Health Care studies adolescent health care in the United States, highlights critical health care needs, and identifies service models and components of care that may strengthen and improve health care services, settings, and systems for adolescents. The book explores the nature of adolescent challenges and how they reflect larger societal issues such as poverty, crime and the prevalence of violence. These issues, in addition to lack of comprehensive health coverage, dysfunctional families and the lack of support systems, make providing adequate health care incredibly challenging. Challenges in Adolescent Health Care defines high-quality health care, identifies the strengths and weaknesses of various service models and explores various training programs. The book recommends that health care providers must be sensitive to socioeconomic factors and incorporate health care in a broad array of settings including schools, neighborhoods and community centers.

Adolescence is a time of major transition, however, health care services in the United States today are not designed to help young people develop healthy routines, behaviors, and relationships that they can carry into their adult lives. While most adolescents at this stage of life are thriving, many of them have difficulty gaining access to necessary services; other engage in risky behaviors that can jeopardize their health during these formative years and also contribute to poor health outcomes in adulthood. Missed opportunities for disease prevention and health promotion are two major problematic features of our nation's health services system for adolescents. Recognizing that health care providers play an important role in fostering healthy behaviors among adolescents, Adolescent Health Services examines the health status of adolescents and reviews the separate and uncoordinated programs and services delivered in multiple public and private health care settings. The book provides guidance to administrators in public and private health care agencies, health care workers, guidance counselors, parents, school administrators, and policy makers on investing in, strengthening, and improving an integrated health system for adolescents.

Handbook of Adolescent Health Care is a condensed, portable version of Dr. Neinstein's best-selling clinical reference, Adolescent Health Care: A Practical Guide, Fifth Edition. In easy-to-scan outline format with numerous tables and treatment algorithms, the handbook presents the most essential clinical information from the larger text. The 84 chapters cover all the key developmental, medical, reproductive, mental health, substance abuse, and STI issues that occur in adolescents, as well as nutrition and complementary/alternative medicine. This handbook is ideal for pediatric and family practitioners who do not specialize in adolescent medicine and can be used by specialists as a quick reference in the clinical setting.