Preventive Screening and Intervention for Young Adults

1 Preventive Screening and Intervention for Young Adults As young adults transition into adulthood, their health needs changes and therefore require focused preventive and intervention measures. Young adults are likely to have increased mortality, increased engagement in health-risk behaviors, mental health problems and an increase in chronic conditions. It is notable that most health destructive behaviors are adopted in adolescent age and in young adulthood making them the target age for preventive and intervention measures. Advanced practice nurses can help improve the health of this target population by implementing strategic preventive screening and intervention as will be discussed in this discussion.

Buy this excellently written paper or order a fresh one from acemyhomework.com

2 Health Concerns in Young Adulthood Through health evaluations and assessments, an advanced nurse practitioner can adequately the health concerns of a young adult. These are often influenced by their healthrelated behaviors and determined by psychological, physical and social factors. Compared to adolescents, young adults are more sensitive to environmental inputs. Therefore, assessments should identify the social and biological contexts of young adults which can influence their future health behaviors and outcomes (Harris et al., 2017).

Assessments should also be specific to age-related health risks. Young adults have almost similar health risk behaviors as adolescents. Such behaviors potentially lead to significant health problems both in the present and in their adult hood. Particular health concerns to be assessed include substance abuse, high risk sexual behavior, mental health issues, risky driving and violence among others (Goodyear-Smith, Martel, Darragh, Warren, Thabrew & Clark, 2017). All these health concerns can be easily identified and prevented or addressed in primary care.

Preventive Screening Measures Targeted screening procedures can be introduced by advanced nurse practitioners in primary care. This includes the use of screening tests for conditions the client is found to be at increased risk after initial assessments. Screening tests can include sexually transmitted infections screening, determination of body mass index, checking for hypertension, nutrition status, physical activity, determining presence of substance abuse and screening for suicidal thoughts and depression among others (Harris et al., 2017). The screening tests also vary based on gender and the risk factors identified during assessment. For example, sexually active females above the age of 21 require to start cervical cancer screening. The same way, those found to inject drugs during assessment might require additional HIV and hepatitis screening. Based on

3 the findings of these screening procedures, individualized plan of action is initiated to address their personal health risks.

Intervention measures Health interventions are utilized to lower the risk of developing a disease or complication and to properly manage existing ones (Goodyear-Smith et al., 2017). In young adults, advanced nurse practitioners should consider all the health risks that makes this patient population vulnerable. Health education is one of the most appropriate ways to influence better health decisions among young adults. This is because of their increased autonomy hence their choice in indulgence in health risk behaviors. Education strategies should include the effects a behavior has on their health both in long and short term (Goodyear-Smith et al., 2017). Additionally, vaccinations can be used to protect against infections such as hepatitis in those who are at high risk. Women may benefit from family planning measures to avoid unplanned pregnancies. In general, healthier lifestyle practices should be promoted, including healthier dieting, physical activeness, safe sex practices and avoidance of drug and substance abuse.

4 References Goodyear-Smith, F., Martel, R., Darragh, M., Warren, J., Thabrew, H., & Clark, T. C. (2017).

Screening for risky behaviour and mental health in young people: the YouthCHAT programme. Public Health Reviews 38, 20. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40985-017-0068-1 Harris, S. K., Aalsma, M. C., Weitzman, E. R., Garcia-Huidobro, D., Wong, C., Hadland, S. E., Santelli, J., Park, M. J., & Ozer, E. M. (2017). Research on Clinical Preventive Services for Adolescents and Young Adults: Where Are We and Where Do We Need to Go?. The Journal of Adolescent Health: Official Publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine, 60(3), 249–260. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2016.10.005