No abstract

Youth can engage in a process of identifying community-level health influences, leading to health promotion through advocacy. Participants focused their advocacy work on selected issues addressing the types of unhealthy food available in their communities and stress. This process appears to provide meaningful insight into the youths' perspective on what influences their health behaviors.

Background-Clinicians, public health practitioners, and policymakers would like to understand how youth perceive health issues and how they can become advocates for health promotion in their communities. 1 ,2 Traditional research methods can be used to capture these perceptions, but are limited in their ability to activate (excite and engage) youth to participate in health promotion activities.

A school-based structural intervention can improve female adolescents' receipt of services.

Students as young as middle school age who participate in sports daily may have an elevated risk for STDs and pregnancy. Health professionals should counsel middle school athletes about sexual risk reduction, given that young students may find it particularly difficult to obtain contraceptives, STD testing and prevention counseling.