The course consists of lectures, readings, discussions, a mid-term examination, and individual final papers. The purpose of the lectures, readings and discussions is to explore a variety of aspects of adolescence, health, and development. The papers are meant to help students develop skills to analyze the public health issues of adolescence through developing conceptual frameworks and evidence based interventions and to recommend effective solutions and interventions.

At the conclusion of this course, students will be able to do the following:

• Describe the biological and psychological developmental processes that occur during adolescence and puberty
• Identify major public health issues affecting adolescents both domestically and internationally
• Place the major health concerns affecting adolescents within a conceptual framework to understand their key antecedents and determinates that include risk and protective factors within the biological, social, cultural, behavioral, political, and environmental domains
• Analyze major health concerns affecting adolescents in an effort to recommend effective interventions to improve the health of adolescents
• Explore five topical areas (adolescent depression and suicidality, youth with disabilities, juvenile violence, reproductive health, and adolescent obesity) in depth to understand the interplay of key antecedents and determinates
• Demonstrate critical and analytical thinking by preparing a final paper on a major public health concern affecting adolescents that includes a description of the magnitude of the concern, a conceptual framework, analysis of the issue and a recommended intervention based on intervention research

Class participation
Students will be assessed on both active participation and listening throughout the duration of the course.

Reading Questions
Starting in the 4th week, questions based on the readings of the week (posted in the Online Library) will be due. Students are expected to prepare a one to two paragraph response (no more). Responses are to be submitted as a text file (e.g., Microsoft Word) using the Drop Box. The deadline for the submission is 8:00 a.m. on the dates indicated on the course schedule.

Mid term
The mid-term will be a multiple choice, short answer, and short essay examination that will be “take home” and “open book.” It should take no more that 90 minutes to complete (assuming you have done the readings and understand the material). It is due no later than 11:59 pm EST on the date indicated on the course schedule.

Final paper
Students are expected to write an individual paper addressing an issue of public health importance adhering to the following principles:

1. Clearly define the adolescent health problem or issue and address why it is of public health significance
2. Use a conceptual framework or logic model to address the key antecedents and determinates of the issue
3. Employ peer reviewed literature and use only primary sources as references (e.g., not literature reviews or web based articles)
4. Present an evidence based intervention that is derived from your conceptual framework or logic model and the published intervention research (please justify your selection of an intervention)

If you are an undergraduate, you must have approval by the TA for your paper topic.

The term paper can be any length as long as it meets the above criteria and does not exceed 15 pages. The reports should have one inch margins, no less than a 12 point Times New Roman font, and must be double spaced. The paper must use a consistent format for references such as the APA or ICMJE format; and references do not count against the total page count. Any tables used in the individual report will be counted against the total page count. The individual reports need to be submitted no later than 11:59 EDT p.m. on the date indicated on the Schedule. See Final Paper instructions for more details.

Primary Faculty Robert Wm. Blum, MD, MPH, PhD William H. Gates, Sr., Professor and Chair Department of Population, Family, and Reproductive Health 615 N. Wolfe Street, Suite E4527 410-955-3384 Email: rblum@jhsph.edu Teaching Assistant May Sudhinaraset Doctoral Student Department of Population, Family, and Reproductive Health Email: msudhina@jhsph.edu