Improving Access to Youth-friendly Services
Adolescents deserve access to high-quality, youth-friendly health care that is age and developmental stage-appropriate.
Adolescence affords a key opportunity to administer counseling, anticipatory guidance, and health care services to help young people establish life-long healthy habits. Adolescents tend to be healthy, but participate at disproportionately high rates in risky behaviors that can lead to significant morbidity and mortality. Consequently, the health care needs of adolescents are unique from other patient populations. Adolescents deserve access to high-quality, youth-friendly health care that is age and developmental stage-appropriate.
Sparks are designed for providers or staff to deliver in 15-30 minutes at staff meetings or professional development opportunities. These trainings will “spark” discussion and reflection among your multidisciplinary team. All sparks include a PowerPoint presentation, a facilitator outline and follow-up materials.
Introduce your teams to elements of an adolescent-centered environment and identify key staff and provider behaviors essential to providing you-friendly care.
Identify and discuss key concepts about providing culturally responsive health care to young people and reflect on various cultural norms unique to adolescence.
Explore with your team how adolescent brain development impacts interactions between young people and adults in a clinical or community-based setting.
Consider how staff and providers can create a climate where adolescents are more likely to discuss their sexual health openly and honestly.
Discuss strategies adults can use to help youth feel comfortable asking for support. This Spark is intended for adults who may refer youth to services like health care or mental health.
Explore the ways Title X clinic staff can create a nonjudgmental culture for adolescent and young adult clients who present for pregnancy options counseling.
Explore many of the ways that primary care and other health centers can make sure that their space is youth-friendly.
Hear directly from teens on their priorities for their health care.
Hear directly from teens about how you can improve their health care experience. We encourage you to use these videos for training.
Youth empowerment can be impacted through programming, visual cues, and one-on-one conversations with patients. AHI offers resources on all three!
Work alongside a cohort of health centers during this 18-month process to make your policies, practices, procedures, and physical spaces adolescent-centered. The Champion Model includes a comprehensive assessment, customized resources, pre-packaged Spark mini-trainings, patient and staff evaluations, professional development opportunities, and tailored technical assistance to reduce barriers and increase opportunities for success.
The ACE-AP is a guided, comprehensive self-assessment and improvement process that drives health centers to become youth-friendly. Technical assistance is provided and includes customized implementation plans using Plan, Do, Study, Act (PDSA) improvement cycles.
AHI works with health centers and organizations across the country to improve the delivery of high-quality, youth-friendly care. Looking for support to improve youth-friendly care in your setting?
