Question

What essential elements should be included in a health teaching plan addressing physical, emotional, social, and spiritual challenges in adolescents

Answer 1

What essential elements should be included in a health teaching plan addressing physical, emotional, social, and spiritual challenges in adolescents?

Adolescents are young people, vulnerable to variety of health risk. During this period physiological changes occur in the body and cause greater transition from childhood to adults. In health education, the nurse should include following points and prevention and management of some issues.

Physical :

• physiological changes that occur in the body- secondary sexual characteristics
• Hormone secetions and related changes
• Mensturation and menstural hygiene for girls
• maintaining personal hygiene
• prevention of sexually transmitted diseases, use of birth control measures like condomduring sexual contact
• Avoidance of early pregnancy and child birth

Nutrition

• Include adeqauate amount of iron , protien containing food
• Include vegetables, whole grains, Avoid high fat and high carbohydrate food.
• Maintain ideal body weight. Do daily exercise and maintain physical acitivity

Immunization, dental care

ill effects of smoking, alcoholism and drug abuse

Prevention of accidents, road traffic accidents

Emotional / psychological

• Emotional instability due to secondary sexual charecterisitics
• Sexual growth problems
• teenage pregnancy related problems like pre term delivery, low birth baby, excess burden on child care during schooling period
• Early signs of depression, anxiety , anorexia nervosa

Social

• Maintaining social interaction with peer group, family memebers, involving group activities.
• Approaching self help groups or , if any help needed

Spiritual

Faith in God and need of spiritual health for peaceful mind