Young Person's Experience Research Articles

Nurse's role in promoting health transitions for adolescents and young adults with developmental disabilities

This article examines the impact of cultural factors influencing the youth's transition process and includes recommendations for addressing these needs within the context of nursing practice. Youth-centered transition planning begins with a comprehensive, culturally competent assessment of adolescent and family needs in order to foster youth autonomy and family support during this important stage of development. Nurses who work with youth with developmental disabilities are faced with many questions from youth and families regarding the how, what, when, and where of transition planning, such as "Where do I find an adult health care provider who has the clinical expertise and sensitivity to my disability concerns?" and "Where can I get health insurance coverage when I "age out" of the health insurance program I am currently enrolled in?" The questions youth and families have not only reflect their needs for services and supports, but also represent the cultural context of their experiences. Who is this youth who is fast growing up, soon to become an adult? What has been this young person's experiences as a boy or a girl, a person with a developmental disability, a member of his or her family, and a member of the community? Each youth's experiences have an enormous impact shaping his or her progression through adolescence, and the impact continues with adult development. Nurses can serve as pivotal members of the team assisting these youths with developmental disabilities and their families in confronting the challenges and excitement of successfully transitioning to adulthood.

Health motives and life values. A study of young persons' reasons for health.

The aim of this study was to investigate the health motives of young people, i.e. the things that give health meaning. The investigation was carried out as two studies among Finland-Swedish young people aged 13-19. A questionnaire with open questions framed with a multidimensional perspective on health was filled in by 152 pupils at secondary school, 121 pupils at upper secondary school and 115 pupils at vocational school in study I. A theme interview with 15 young persons was the data assembling method used in study II. The data was analysed using the hermeneutical method. The results revealed that a young person's experience of health and idea of what health is cannot be understood in a deeper sense without understanding the young person's health motives. The health motives can be described at different levels as external, internal and fundamental. The different motives for health form health motive complexes, which are based on an aspiration to avoid something perceived as evil, such as illness and suffering. On the other hand, the motives are based on an aspiration to achieve what is good, such as love and life. The motives mentioned as meaningful for health have to do with the things that are valued in life. Consciousness of life values that last and can give meaning provides an answer to the 'why' of health. Humanistic values, existentialistic values, materialistic values or traditionalistic values give the clue to why health is meaningful for a young person. The results also indicated that there are difference in young persons' health motives in different school contexts.

Victims, Nuisances or Both? Changing Protective Services for Young People

Working with young people presents some unique challenges for protective services programs. How well equipped are services to meet those challenges? The Burdekin Report on Youth Homelessness graphically illustrates the ways in which both protective services programs and the community at large are failing young people.One young person's experience of welfare authorities went like this… “they put you in refuges. That's their escape from the subject… But if you've really got a problem they're not (of) very much assistance.”Intervention in the lives of young people has been alternatively described as neglectful, unhelpful, or damaging and punitive.

Personal and social enabling conditions for the 16‐year‐old school leaver: a transactional model for understanding the school leaving transition

Abstract Research concerned with the 16‐year‐old school leaver has taken on increasing significance in recent decades because of the declining youth labour market and the attempts of government to substitute further education and training for these young people. A brief introduction to previous research is provided in the context of a theoretical position which emphasizes the importance of understanding the young person's experiences as an accommodation to extant familial and socio‐cultural constraints and resources. Following this, an overview of the research design employed here is provided which implicates a discussion of the relative merits of grounded theory procedures in comparison with statistical inference. A three‐year longitudinal study of young people drawn from a sample of 150 fifteen‐year olds who were interviewed shortly before their planned school leaving date is reported. The schools are situated in two different labour markets, which vary in the extent to which they offer employment oppor...