title: Nurses on the Front Lines: Improving Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health Across Health Care Settings.
abstract: : Nurses care for adolescents in a variety of settings, including communities, schools, and public health and acute care clinics, which affords them many opportunities to improve adolescents' sexual and reproductive health and reduce the rates of unplanned pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. To ensure that adolescents have access to sexual and reproductive health care (which includes both preventive counseling and treatment) in all nursing practice sites, nurses need to gain the knowledge and hone the skills required to deliver evidence-based counseling and services to adolescents and parents. Collectively, nurses can use their unique combination of knowledge and skills to make a positive impact on adolescent sexual and reproductive outcomes. Nurses have the capacity and opportunity to disseminate information about sexual and reproductive health to adolescents and their parents in communities, schools, public health clinics, and acute care settings. This article discusses the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine's goals and recommendations, which address adolescent sexual and reproductive health as both a health care and a human rights issue.
authors.affiliation: Diane Santa Maria is an assistant professor at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. Vincent Guilamo-Ramos is a professor and codirector of the Center for Latino Adolescent and Family Health in the Silver School of Social Work at New York University in New York City. Loretta Sweet Jemmott is vice president of health equity at Drexel University in Philadelphia. Anne Derouin is an assistant professor at Duke University in Durham, NC. Antonia Villarruel is a professor and the Margaret Bond Simon Dean of Nursing in the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, Philadelphia. Contact author: Diane Santa Maria, diane.m.santamaria@uth.tmc.edu. The authors have disclosed no potential conflicts of interest, financial or otherwise.
authors.forename: Diane
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Santa Maria
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Guilamo-Ramos
authors.forename: Loretta Sweet
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Jemmott
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Derouin
authors.forename: Antonia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Villarruel
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D016497:Adolescent Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D005260:Female; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006806:Human Rights; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D024802:Nurse's Role; D011247:Pregnancy; D011253:Pregnancy in Adolescence / Q000517:prevention & control; D060728:Reproductive Health / Q000639:trends*; D012736:Sex Education / Q000639:trends*; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D012749:Sexually Transmitted Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control*