Concepts and issues related to adolescent health in nursing education*

Abstract

Objective: analyze the structure of teaching programs and contents of the adolescent health and development component in nursing education. Method: descriptive observational study conducted in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. Data was collected by the Instrument for (self-)evaluation of the adolescent health and development component in undergraduate health programs, and investigated using descriptive statistics. Results: A total of 95 nursing schools participated in the study (84.1% of the total). Of the professors responsible teaching adolescent health, 31.6% had no specific training on the topic and 18.9% had no educational/pedagogical training. Behavior, gender identity and sexual orientation, bullying and cyberbullying, use of digital technologies, partner violence, parenting, and pubertal delay are the main topics which could be incorporated into nursing education. Conclusion: the faculty has limited education in pedagogical/educational topics and specific adolescent health issues. Curricula should be updated with adolescent health and development content, including knowledge of laws and policies, thus expanding nurses’ ability to generate, analyze and use data for decision making.