Background: Adolescents often experience discomfort due to individual experiences and the influence of their environment. This discomfort sometimes leads to mental health problems. Education is pivotal in promoting adolescents' mental health through dedicated prevention interventions and through everyday educational practice, both at school and in…

School-based mental health programs (SBMHP) are vital to providing youth access to mental health services. This study aims to characterize changes in therapy encounters and psychotropic medication prescriptions in an urban SBMHP during the COVID-19 pandemic. We used electronic medical records to extract demographic, clinical, and utilization data…

We examined trends in depression among 17-year-olds to understand the contribution of incoming students to the demand for collegiate mental health services. Seventeen-year-olds (N = 32,325) from the National Surveys on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) for 2008 to 2019 were included. The proportion of 17-year-olds reporting depression during their…

The transition from pediatric to adult health care is a vulnerable time period for autistic adolescents and young adults (AYA) and for some autistic AYA may include a period of receiving care in both the pediatric and adult health systems. We sought to assess the proportion of autistic AYA who continued to use pediatric health services after their…

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is complex neurodevelopmental disorder that is exhibited through a wide-range of symptoms including social interactions, communication deficits, limited interests, and repetitive behaviors (e.g., stimming). The prevalence of autism amongst children and adolescents continues to grow with 1 in 36 diagnosed annually…

Many autistic youth have complex healthcare needs, resulting in high rates of health service utilization. However, many characteristics of this health service utilization remain unknown. Using whole-of-population data, this study aimed to quantify and compare rates of psychiatric and non-psychiatric health service utilization among autistic and…

Access to menstrual products is important to support adolescent health. Advocacy to increase access to menstrual products in schools is growing; however, ideal access requires policies that will require schools to support the menstrual health of menstruating students. We conducted a legislative review on the existence and status of state…

Menstrual management is recognized as a critical issue for young people internationally. Relatively little published research explores issues pertaining to menstruation in school education. This paper is based on the results of an Australian survey of 5007 young women aged 13-25, which examined their experiences of menstruation and dysmenorrhea.…

Background: Adolescents and young adults (AYA) with chronic conditions should acquire self-management skills as part of their healthcare transition (HCT) from pediatric to adult-focused care. HCT/self-management skills have the potential to help mitigate health disparities among minority AYA with chronic conditions. This study investigated school…

Systemic racism is pervasive in US society and disproportionately limits opportunities for education, work, and health for historically marginalized and minoritized racial and ethnic groups, making it an urgent issue of social justice. Because systemic racism is a social determinant of health prevalent across multiple social and institutional…

Background: Nurses have a critical role to play in the delivery of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services to adolescents and young people. Nurses' interactions with adolescents and young people can shape sexual and reproductive behaviours and outcomes, including willingness to access and engage with healthcare services. However, little…

Since the onset of the pandemic schools have reported a 67% increase in mental health services in a survey conducted by study by the National Center for Education Statistics and the U.S. Census Bureau (Panchal, Cox, & Rudowitz 2022). This study investigated the current literature on self-efficacy as it pertains to school psychologists in their…

Previous research indicates that youth exhibiting antisocial behavior are at risk for utilizing a disproportionate amount of health services compared to youth without these problems. The present study investigates whether being processed by the juvenile justice system and showing callous-unemotional (CU) traits independently predict health service…

Death is inevitable and universal, and the corona virus disease has only further intensified a world of uncertainties as a result of frequent accidents, HIV/AIDS, cancer and natural disasters. Bereavement after any death is a potentially disruptive life event with consequences in physical and mental health, relationships and social functioning.…

With the increasing prominence of the children and adolescent mental health crisis after the COVID-19 pandemic, schools have been tasked with connecting students with supports to reduce non-academic barriers to learning. Student Assistance Programs (SAPs) can assist with this by connecting students and their families with school-based and…