International journal of adolescent medicine and health
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This article gives an overview of the primary health care system and the evolution of adolescent medicine and health care in Australia over the past three decades. The various ways that Australian young people come into contact with different elements of primary health care are described, as well as research findings into improving young people's access to and quality of primary health care. Challenges and future directions are discussed.
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Int J Adolesc Med Health · Apr 2007
Controlled Clinical TrialThe implications of having attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in male adolescents with intellectual disability.
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is currently defined as a cognitive/behavioral developmental disorder where all clinical criteria are behavioral. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate a correlation between social skills and ADHD among adolescents with intellectual disabilities (ID). The study concerns the specific cognitive and adaptive skills of adolescents dually diagnosed with mild intellectual disabilities and comorbid pathology as ADHD. ⋯ ADHD strongly increased the impairment of social skills, while behavioral disorders were less damaging in ID performance. The WISC and DBC instruments should be used with confidence in clinical and service settings, to allow a better assessment of co-occurrence morbidity in adolescents with ID. The interactions between intellectual disability and psychopathology behavior highlight the need to plan a more accurate diagnosis and appropriate rehabilitative intervention program, essential for improving the quality of life of the ID population.
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Int J Adolesc Med Health · Jan 2006
Utility of the AUDIT for screening adolescents for problematic alcohol use in the emergency department.
The emergency department is a setting conducive to screening adolescents for problematic alcohol use, who can then be targeted for further evaluation and intervention. This study examined the utility of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) as a screening measure for identifying young adolescents in an urban emergency department (ED). Adolescents (13-17 years old) who presented to the ED were screened as part of a larger study. ⋯ Since the adolescents in the current study were not alcohol-positive at the time of the ED visit, they would likely have been missed by biochemical alcohol screening alone. Screening procedures that employ the AUDIT may be most efficient when adapted for the specific adolescent age group (younger versus older), thus identifying the highest number of adolescents who should be targeted for intervention. Lowering the recommended adult cut-scores on the shorter versions of the AUDIT appears necessary to identify adolescents who may benefit from intervention or referral.
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Int J Adolesc Med Health · Jul 2005
Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) and the Children's Depression Rating Scale-Revised (CDRS-R): reliability of the Hebrew version.
The Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) and Children's Depression Rating Scale-Revised (CDRS-R) are two widely used instruments, which measure depression in children and adolescents. This pilot study assessed the reliability of the Hebrew versions of these two instruments. Both CDRS-R and CDI were translated from English into Hebrew and then back translated. ⋯ Results showed high agreement between the two versions for almost all items of the CDI and moderate to high for the CDRS-R. When CDRS-R summary scores for each item were compared, the agreement was high for this instrument as well. It is concluded that both CDI and CDRS-R Hebrew versions are reliable and can be used for studies of depression in the Israeli pediatric population.
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Leo Kanner described autism in 1943, and Hans Asperger described the syndrome in 1944. The term Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDD) was first used in the 1980s to describe a class of disorders that include (1) Autistic disorder, (2) Rett disorder or syndrome, (3) Childhood Disintegrative Disorder, (4) Asperger's disorder or syndrome, and (5) Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified, or PDDNOS. Autism prevalence studies published before 1985 showed prevalence rates of 4 to 5 per 10,000 children for the broader autism spectrum, and about 2 per 10,000 for the classic autism definition. ⋯ In recent years concern has been shown about the possible increase in the prevalence of autistic spectrum disorders. Studies have shown an increase, but during these last twenty years diagnostic criteria and definition have also changed. Although many factors are at play, it is evident that there has been an increase.