Adolescent Health Interventions: Conclusions, Evidence Gaps, and Research Priorities

Abstract

Adolescent health care is challenging compared to that of children and adults, due to their rapidly evolving physical, intellectual, and emotional development. This paper is the concluding paper for a series of reviews to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions for improving adolescent health and well-being. In this paper, we summarize the evidence evaluated in the previous papers and suggest areas where there is enough existing evidence to recommend implementation and areas where further research is needed to reach consensus. Potentially effective interventions for adolescent health and well-being include interventions for adolescent sexual and reproductive health, micronutrient supplementation, nutrition interventions for pregnant adolescents, interventions to improve vaccine uptake among adolescents, and interventions for substance abuse. Majority of the evidence for improving immunization coverage, substance abuse, mental health, and accidents and injury prevention comes from high-income countries. Future studies should specifically be targeted toward the low- and middle-income countries with long term follow-up and standardized and validated measurement instruments to maximize comparability of results. Assessment of effects by gender and socioeconomic status is also important as there may be differences in the effectiveness of certain interventions. It is also important to recognize ideal delivery platforms that can augment the coverage of proven adolescent health-specific interventions and provide an opportunity to reach hard-to-reach and disadvantaged population groups.

Keywords: Adolescent health; Adolescent immunization; Adolescent nutrition; Adolescent sexual health; Injury prevention; Mental health; Substance abuse.

Figure 1

Existing evidence of adolescent health–specific interventions according to the delivery platforms utilized. FGM/C = female genital mutilation/cutting; MMN = multiple micronutrient supplementation.