Improving mental health and lifestyle outcomes in a hospital emergency department based youth violence intervention

Determining Domains of Practice for Youth Support Co-Coordinator Work in Teenage/Young Adult Cancer Care in United Kingdom

Purpose: Youth support coordinators (YSCs) provide youth-focused psychosocial support to teenagers and young adults (TYA) with cancer, within multidisciplinary teams (MDTs) in National Health Service (NHS) specialist cancer environments. This action research project aimed to provide insight into the work of YSCs with TYA with cancer, within MDTs in clinical settings, and to develop a knowledge and skill framework for YSCs. Methods: An action research approach was taken involving two focus groups, with Health Care Professionals (n = 7) and TYA with cancer (n = 7), and a questionnaire with YSCs (n = 23). Data were analyzed using a thematic analysis approach. A research steering group ensured consistency with the participatory methodology. Results: The positive value of YSC contribution to patients and MDT was echoed across the data sets. Four domains of practice were identified for inclusion in a YSC knowledge and skill framework: (1) adolescent development; (2) the TYA with cancer; (3) working with TYA with cancer; and (4) professional practice of YSC work. Conclusion: Findings highlight the interdependence of YSC domains of practice. For example, the impact of cancer and its treatment must be considered alongside biopsychosocial knowledge relating to adolescent development. Similarly, skills for running youth-focused activities need adapting to the professional cultures, rules, and practices of working in health care systems. Further questions and challenges are raised, such as the value and challenge of therapeutic conversations; practice supervision; and the complexities of the "insider/outsider" perspectives YSCs bring. These insights potentially have important transferability to other areas of adolescent health care.

Youth Work in the Hospital Setting: A Narrative Review of the Literature

This paper presents a narrative literature review on the evidence relating to the youth worker role with young people in the hospital setting, within which the research gaps and inconsistencies within the body of knowledge available are highlighted. Medline, CINAHL, PsycINFO, AMED and British Nursing Index databases were searched and screened for papers which involved the youth worker role with young people in a hospital setting. Data relating to the youth workers who worked with young people in the hospital setting were extracted by two independent reviewers. A total of 11 papers were identified dating from 1971 to 2018, from a range of countries. In order to present the available body of knowledge, this narrative synthesis of the literature is presented under three headings: descriptive work, service evaluation and empirical research. The findings suggest that the youth worker role in the hospital setting has a positive impact upon the lives of young people and this was accomplished through the interventions the youth worker employed when working with young people. Equally, challenges were highlighted relating to the youth worker undertaking their role in the hospital setting. However, changes during this time period in attitudes towards adolescent health particularly within the United Kingdom, along with the loss of funding for youth work has had an impact on the research in this area of clinical practice. The number of descriptive papers in this review, highlights the necessity for empirical evidence in both quantitative and qualitative research in order to gain a greater understanding of what the youth worker role in the hospital provides to young people and the impact of their interventions from the perspectives of young people, parents, youth workers and members of the multi-disciplinary team.