Paper 3

Title page

Healthcare

TOPIC 3: Community health, adolescent and young adults.

The three most common reasons behind unintentional injuries experienced by youth include; alcohol use, tobacco use and inadequate physical activity. Alcohol consumption is a common cause of most of the accidents encountered by youth in America. Binge drinking has become a crucial problem because alcohol is easily accessible to youth. Americans who are older than 12 years are more likely to consume excessive alcohol and drugs.

Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) are developed by the state for measuring the risky behaviors of youth across six dimensions. Alcohol use, tobacco use and inadequate physical activity are mentioned in the YRBSS which are built for reducing risky behaviors. The consumption of drugs and alcohol is measured for determining the risks faced by every person. Similarly the fitness level of youth is also assessed for finding the level of risks faced by youth. specific interventions are also focus on mitigating the risks faced by the youth due to these risky behaviors. The interventions emphasize on studying the knowledge, attitude and beliefs of the students which leads to the creation of effective strategies for controlling injuries. The procedures used by these interventions include population specific surveys. Questionnaires are the reliable tools used for evaluating the behaviors and factors with encourage consumption of alcohol, drugs or physical inactivity. To prevent the use of alcohol YRBSS considers the intake of alcohol during the last 30 days and focuses on discouraging this behavior. in case of tobacco use the past consumption for a whole month is considered. To promote physical activity YRBSS measures the time given by students to physical exercise or aerobics.

The program stresses on adoption of different prevention strategies such as counseling and cognitive behavior therapy. These interventions stresses on providing information about the negative aspects of these risky behaviors and encourage youth to get rid of these. Through counseling sessions at schools the therapists allow students to identify their problems and also the reasons or factors behind them. They are encouraged to adopt positive attitude and change their risky lifestyle. Goals are developed which motivate youth to reduce their consumption of alcohol and tobacco daily. Gradual reduction provokes them to quit it finally. Similarly, they are also helped in creating fitness goals. They are encouraged to give some time of day like one hour to exercise daily. They are instructed to increase their physical activity gradually and reaching the final goal where they get rid of obesity CITATION Aar14 \l 1033 (White & Hingson, 2014).

Different prevention programs can be adopted for eliminating risky behaviors including provision of supervision and conducting monitoring at high-school and colleges. The prevention programs also involve giving awareness to the students at schools and explaining them the repercussions of these risky behaviors. The strategy of state to develop surveillance systems is also an effective step which will allow schools and the institutes to stop youth form engaging in risky behaviors CITATION Aar14 \l 1033 (White & Hingson, 2014). It is also important to provide resources such as physical fitness centers.

CDC has listed six critical behaviors which leads to unintentional injuries. These include; alcohol and drug use, injury and violence, tobacco use, nutrition, physical activity and sexual behaviors. It is important for the state and the schools to control these behaviors of the students because it threatens their life and safety. The central aim of each intervention is to make youth realize the consequences of these risky behaviors and encourage them quit them for their safety.

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY White, A., & Hingson, R. (2014). The Burden of Alcohol Use. Alcohol Res , 35 (2), 201–218.

CDC. (2018). Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS). Retrieved 10 10, 2019, from https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/data/yrbs/index.htm