Adolescent Development Lecture Notes

Introduction

• Adolescent care involves managing rapid physical, psychological, and social changes.
• Unique challenges in communication and management with adolescents.
• Transition of health responsibility from parents to adolescents.

Clinical Communication Skills

• Importance of specialized skills for history taking and examinations:
  • Address new life domains like sex and drugs.
  • Engage family in consultations.
  • Maintain privacy and integrity during physical exams.
• Understanding adolescent development aids in managing adherence, identity, consent, confidentiality, and family relationships.

Challenges of Adolescence

• Biological and Sexual Maturation
• Development of Personal Identity
• Intimate Peer Relationships
• Independence and Autonomy

Developmental Tasks During Adolescence

• Early Adolescence:
  • Biological: Early puberty changes.
  • Psychological: Concrete thinking, emerging sexual identity.
  • Social: Separation from parents, peer identification.
• Mid-Adolescence:
  • Biological: Puberty progression, growth spurt.
  • Psychological: Abstract thinking, ideological development.
  • Social: Increased health risks, vocational planning.
• Late Adolescence:
  • Biological: Completion of puberty.
  • Psychological: Complex thinking, identity development.
  • Social: Social autonomy, vocational and financial independence.

Psychosocial Development

• Adolescence labeled as a critical developmental stage.
• Various theories:
  • Freud: Psychosexual development.
  • Piaget: Cognitive development.
  • Erikson: Identity development.
• Biopsychosocial model integrating biological, psychological, and social elements.

Challenges for Young People

• Authority and Spiritual Paths
• Risk-Taking
• Substance Experimentation
• Changing Environments
• Developing Relationships
• Renegotiating Home Rules

Criticism of Adolescent Models

• Lack of acknowledgment of adolescents within systems.
• The interplay of internal changes with external demands.

Psychological Changes

• Development of abstract thinking and its implications for informed consent and managing illness.

Timing of Puberty

• Effects of early and late puberty on biological, psychological, and social development.

Social Changes

• Redefining independence and dependence within social systems.
• Cultural influences on development.

Physical Development

• Rapid changes during puberty and their stages (Tanner stages).
• Clinical concerns: delayed puberty and short stature.
  • Importance of the Prader orchidometer in assessing testicular development.

Communicating with Adolescents

• Challenges in clinician-adolescent communication:
  • Importance of confidentiality and respect.
  • Avoid being overly familiar; maintain professional boundaries.
  • Use developmentally appropriate communication.
• HEADSS Protocol:
  • Home life, Education, Activities, Affect, Drugs, Sex, Suicide, Sleep.

Conclusion

• Importance of training in adolescent development and health to improve clinical skills.

Further Reading and Resources

• Various guides and reports on adolescent healthcare.
• Online resources for teaching and training in adolescent health.