Contemporary Issue: Adolescent Anxiety
In today’s world of high speed and continuous connectivity, the rate of anxiety among teenagers has been steadily growing. The academic burdens, social expectations, and intricate family relations mixed with doubts about the future are all young adult problems that can cause them tremendous anxiety levels. Anxiety among adolescents may have varied external pressure factors such as academic responsibilities, social media comparisons, family challenges, peer pressure, and college or job dilemmas. Nurses in school health clinics perform a remarkable role in detecting, building therapeutic links, handling legal and ethical concerns, and availing the needed support, which collectively contributes to the successful establishment of teenagers’ mental wellbeing and resilience in modern society.
Assessment Tool
For screening anxiety, there are special assessment tools that I would employ; these tools are the GAD-7 questionnaire and the Screen for Child Anxiety-Related Disorders (SCARED) tool. These tools constitute an extensive range of questions aimed at unraveling symptoms of anxiety in teenagers. Through the GAD-7, we evaluate general anxiety symptoms that include agitation, worry, and irritability, while the SCARED test targets anxiety-linked disorders specific to children and adolescents. This standardized questionnaire administration provides useful data about their mental health status. It may be used as an identifying and appraisal tool to assess anxiety.
Establishing a Therapeutic Relationship
I would use a couple of the strategies that help with trust and support, which are the key elements of a strong therapeutic relationship, to start building this relationship with the teenager. Firstly, I would create a safe environment where the child could trust and not be judged, and thus, the teenager could express their issues freely. This means that privacy, sensitivity, and the freedom to disclose private information should be implemented. Active listening will be my next strategy item as I give the teenager a chance to say what they feel and think without interrupting his speech, showing the emotions and support I feel for their problems. Using the study data from Hartley et al. (2022), I will employ empathetic responses and affirmations toward the young teen, thus assuring him that his feelings are justified and accepted. Furthermore, I will share my plan of involving the teenager in decision-making, allowing him to express his expectations and inclinations. I hope to encourage a feeling of self-control and personal power for recovery by helping them make their judgments about it.
Legal and Ethical Parameters
Confidentiality is pivotal in the nurse-patient relationship, especially when handling delicate things such as the patient’s mental health or the patient himself. Abiding by the ethical and legal duty to protect the teen’s information privacy, as delineated by Tegegne et al. (2022), I am mandated to do so as a nurse. However, the student should be informed about the circumstances beyond which they should step for confidentiality and the situations under which data might need to be shared with parents or guardians, especially if it is believed that the person is putting themself or someone else at risk. This, in turn, creates transparency and strengthens the teenager’s knowledge of their rights and duties that come with the healing process.
Support Options
Aside from personal counseling and support, I will introduce the involved party and their family to necessary community programs. This could include anybody the students could go to, including a professional’s help, support groups, or office counseling services in the school. One major resource is the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), whose information assists families and individuals with support programs, educational materials, and toll-free helplines for conditions related to mental health. The NAMI Helpline can be reached at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), and the organization’s website can be accessed at www.nami.org.
Conclusion
Teen anxiety treatment should involve a multi-faceted strategy that incorporates evaluation, management, and ongoing support. Through the therapeutic connection that is based on trust and confidentiality relationship, the nurses can then have the ability to adequately meet the requirements of the teens suffering from anxiety and hence encourage them to seek help and support. By cooperating with the teenager, the youth family, and various community sources, we will strive to promote mental wellbeing, well-being, self-reliance, and personal resilience in teenagers.
References
Behrens, B., Swetlitz, C., Pine, D. S., & Pagliaccio, D. (2019). The Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED): Informant Discrepancy, Measurement Invariance, and Test-Retest Reliability. Child Psychiatry & Human Development, 50(3), 473–482. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-018-0854-0
Hartley, S., Redmond, T., & Berry, K. (2022). Therapeutic relationships within child and adolescent mental health inpatient services: A qualitative exploration of the experiences of young people, family members, and nursing staff. PLOS ONE, 17(1), e0262070. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0262070
Tegegne, M. D., Melaku, M. S., Shimie, A. W., Hunegnaw, D. D., Legese, M. G., Ejigu, T. A., Mengestie, N. D., Zemene, W., Zeleke, T., & Chanie, A. F. (2022). Health professionals’ knowledge and attitude towards patient confidentiality and associated factors in a resource-limited setting: a cross-sectional study. BMC Medical Ethics, 23(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12910-022-00765-0
write