Volume 200 - Issue 1
Youth health comes of age
Author: Murray G Williams
Med J Aust 2014; 200 (1): 55. || doi: 10.5694/mja13.11140
Published online: 20 January 2014
Published online: 20 January 2014
Where do cystic fibrosis and chlamydia intersect with autism and alcohol misuse? In adolescent medicine, which is the focus of one of the first texts on this topic to be published in Australia. While adolescent health was addressed in this Journal in 1959, considerable time elapsed before clinical units became formally established. These are now centres of excellence in an expanding field in Sydney, Melbourne ...
Where do cystic fibrosis and chlamydia intersect with autism and alcohol misuse? In adolescent medicine, which is the focus of one of the first texts on this topic to be published in Australia. While adolescent health was addressed in this Journal in 1959, considerable time elapsed before clinical units became formally established. These are now centres of excellence in an expanding field in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth, with leadership through strong university affiliation. In this new publication, 39 senior clinicians cover the spectrum of medicine as applied to the developmental and social imperatives of young people.
The book’s four editors, all practitioners as well as academics in the field, have opted for a thematic rather than encyclopaedic approach. The initial chapters provide an overview of both the salient features of healthy adolescent life, and the sometimes disturbing hazards and inequities of adolescent development. Hence strategies for promoting personal resilience and healthy development are described.
A survey of “the structure and organisational approaches and consultation skills for the healthcare worker” guides the reader in effective engagement with adolescents for youth-friendly medical practice, and recognises that the road to optimally serving this population is a long one. The need for health professionals to be adequately trained and remunerated is noted, particularly in rural and remote areas, and in mental health services. Information on the medicolegal aspects of health care for youth is also given.
Issues causing severe concern for parents, schools, social agencies and health administrators are addressed, including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, learning disorders and autism. An overview of mental health issues and a compact explanation of adolescent psychiatric disorders is provided, and “subsyndromal presentation” and the influence of developmental processes on categorical diagnoses are noted. We are reminded that the noted British psychotherapist Heinz Wolff enjoined us to be with our young patients, rather than doing things to them; something that is essential to adolescent care.
Adolescents reflect their community. The challenges of obesity and insulin resistance are comprehensively surveyed, along with sexual and reproductive health, substance misuse and the processes of sexual maturation.
Advances in medical care, such as in cystic fibrosis and cancer, allow more children to survive into adolescence and young adulthood. The chapters on chronic illness analyse the complex problems of suitable clinical and social care for these patients, with an emphasis on “transition to adult care”.
This is a useful, moderately priced reference for working with youth, which contains first-hand advice from clinicians who show respectful, direct and honest attitudes towards young people. Case histories provide examples of an approach that recognises and cares about the individual; another key element of adolescent care.
We now have first-class care for some young people, but serious deficiencies in teaching and service delivery at the national level remain. Publications like this are a healthy sign of change, but there is still a long way to go.
Watchful Waiting Compared With Immediate Antibiotics for Urban Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children With Uncomplicated Acute Otitis Media (WATCH): A Non-Inferiority Randomised Controlled Trial
Jennifer S. Reath, Hasantha Gunasekera, Sanja Lujic, Amanda J. Leach, Letitia Campbell, Robyn Walsh, Tim Usherwood, Geoffrey K. Spurling, Claudette A. Tyson, Deborah A. Askew, Kelvin Kong, Chelsea J. Watego, Peter Morris, Wendy Hu, Penelope A. Abbott
A Rare Case of Storage Mite Anaphylaxis in Infancy
Eliza Kluckow, Katie Frith
Beds Still Burning: Suicide Should Not Be in the Vocabulary of Children
Rudi Louis Taylor-Bragge
Progressing Cross-Sector Collaboration for People With Eating Disorders and Higher Weight: Priority Actions From an Expert Roundtable Using a Modified Nominal Group Technique
Hiba Jebeile, Leah Brennan, Tracy Burrows, Xochitl de la Piedad Garcia, Angelique F. Ralph, Supreet Saluja, Evan Atlantis, Sarah P. Garnett, Carmel J. Harrison, Eve T. House, Natalie B. Lister, Lisa Moran, Milan K. Piya, Elizabeth Rieger, Evelyn Smith, Phillipa Hay, Sarah Trobe
Intergenerational Child Protection Contact and Child Development Outcomes: A Whole Population Linked Data Study
Meredith Forsyth, Alicia Montgomerie, Kathleen Falster, Deepa Jeyaseelan, Paul Hotton, John Lynch, Rhiannon M. Pilkington
Impact of the 2025 New South Wales Respiratory Syncytial Virus Prevention Program on Infant Notifications and Hospitalisations: A Population-Based Analysis
Janaki Amin, Sally L. Ellis, Christopher Lambeth, Jessica Gugusheff, Christine Selvey