by Gina Foianini
Public health graduate student
Health Promotion Advocate (HPA) Intern, 2010-2011

As a health promotion advocate (HPA) at Boston Medical Center’s Pediatric Emergency Department (ED), Gina Foianini discusses certain health behaviors with patients to help them decrease their risk of illness or injury.  These behaviors include using alcohol and drugs, having unprotected sex, smoking, and more.

Below are 10 tips that she has found useful for speaking with pediatric patients (ages 12-21) about behaviors that affect their health.

1. Be patient.
   Working with adolescents is a test of patience.  This is especially true for HPAs, who only have a few moments to make an impression.  Even if the conversation isn’t going the way we want, it is important to be patient and think positively about where it will end up.
2. Listen.
   By listening we have an opportunity to create a space for adolescents where they feel comfortable to share their thoughts and feelings.
3. Put aside judgment.
   It can be very tempting to judge certain behaviors that teens engage in, for example not using birth control or using drugs on a daily basis.  This type of judgment only creates a boundary between you and the patient.  Instead, try to understand where the patient is coming from.
4. Lighten the mood with humor.
   When working with adolescents, it is helpful not to take yourself too seriously.  Introducing humor into an interaction with an adolescent will help everyone feel more comfortable and at ease.
5. Respect.
   Show teens the same respect that you would any other adult.  Adolescents struggle with being somewhere in between childhood and adulthood, and by showing them respect we can help them with that transition and help foster their self confidence.
6. Use their words.
   Adolescents can have their own language.  Using the slang that they use every day can be a very effective way of connecting and communicating.  At the very least you will get a smile out of them.
7. Validate their feelings.
   When a young person opens up and expresses how they are feeling, it can be tempting to judge those feelings as right or wrong, or to analyze them in some way.  It’s much more helpful to validate their feelings no matter what they are.
8. Ask, don’t tell.
   When speaking with adolescents it is tempting to tell them what we think they should do.  To really help someone change their behavior, it is important to do more asking than telling, that way the solution comes from them and isn’t imposed by someone on the outside.
9. Make it relevant.
   Young people generally don’t think about the long term, so it can be ineffective to talk to them about how their behaviors will affect them later on in life.  It is much more effective to talk to them about the short term and make it relevant their life situation.
10. Be realistic.
    Accepting the fact that what we want for someone isn’t always what will work best for them is an important part of doing health promotion with adolescents.  It is important to take a step back from your own agenda to come up with a plan that is realistic for them.

Edited by Llaen Coston-Clark