Assignment task: Patient Education for Children and Adolescents
Patient education is an effective tool in supporting compliance and treatment for a diagnosis. It is important to consider effective ways to educate patients and their families about a diagnosis-such as coaching, brochures, or videos-and to recognize that the efficacy of any materials may differ based on the needs and learning preferences of a particular patient. Because patients or their families may be overwhelmed with a new diagnosis, it is important that materials provided by the practitioner clearly outline the information that patients need to know.
For this Assignment, you will pretend that you are a contributing writer to a health blog. You are tasked with explaining important information about an assigned mental health disorder in language appropriate for child/adolescent patients and/or their caregivers.
Resources:
Be sure to review the Learning Resources before completing this activity.
To Prepare:
- By Day 1, your Instructor will assign a mood or anxiety disorder diagnosis for you to use for this Assignment.
- Research signs and symptoms for your diagnosis, pharmacological treatments, non-pharmacological treatments, and appropriate community resources and referrals.
The Assignment:
In a 300- to 500-word blog post written for a patient and/or caregiver audience, explain signs and symptoms for your diagnosis, pharmacological treatments, non-pharmacological treatments, and appropriate community resources and referrals.
Although you are not required to respond to colleagues, collegial discussion is welcome.
Learning Resources:
Required Readings:
- Hilt, R. J., & Nussbaum, A. M. (2016). DSM-5 pocket guide for child and adolescent mental healthLinks to an external site.. American Psychiatric Association Publishing.
o Chapter 3, "Common Clinical Concerns"
o Chapter 7, "A Brief Version of DSM-5"
o Chapter 8, "A stepwise approach to Differential Diagnosis"
o Chapter 10, "Selected DSM-5 Assessment Measures"
o Chapter 11, "Rating Scales and Alternative Diagnostic Systems"Links to an external site.
- Shoemaker, S. J., Wolf, M. S., & Brach, C. (2014). The patient education materials assessment tool (PEMAT) and user's guideLinks to an external site.. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
- Thapar, A., Pine, D. S., Leckman, J. F., Scott, S., Snowling, M. J., & Taylor, E. A. (2015). Rutter's child and adolescent psychiatry (6th ed.). Wiley Blackwell.
o Chapter 60, "Anxiety Disorders"
o Chapter 61, "Obsessive Compulsive Disorder"
o Chapter 62, "Bipolar Disorder in Childhood"
o Chapter 63, "Depressive Disorders in Childhood and Adolescence"