Supervisors info:
Αθηνά Καλοκαιρινού, Καθηγήτρια, Τμήμα Νοσηλευτικής, ΕΚΠΑ
Παναγιώτη Σουρτζή, Καθηγήτρια, Τμήμα Νοσηλευτικής, ΕΚΠΑ
Βενετία-Σοφία Βελονάκη, Επίκουρη Καθηγήτρια, Τμήμα Νοσηλευτικής, ΕΚΠΑ
Summary:
The dissertation explores the practice of Community Nursing in adolescents belonging
to vulnerable social groups. The development of primary care, as well as adolescence,
has been approached from a historical perspective. Adolescence has been approached
as a critical phase in the development of physical and mental illness, in which holistic
psychosocial support interventions can be performed by the community nurse. It has
also been shown that vulnerable social groups have higher rates of disease compared to
the general adolescent population, and that access to health services is relatively low
for these groups. The vulnerable social groups studied are: adolescents who are
homeless, adolescents held in penitentiary institutions, adolescent substance users and
refugee adolescents. The parameters associated with reduced physical health indicators
include poor nutrition, substance use, lack of vaccination, reduced individual hygiene,
exposure to frequent injuries and the development of dangerous sexual behavior. Their
mental health, on the other hand, is affected by exposure to abuse, war, human
trafficking, racism, discrimination, marginalization, and social isolation. The role of the
community nurse lies in the implementation of strategies to prevent, promote and
improve the health of the studied adolescent population, in the implementation of
measures to identify endangered adolescents and in the direct intervention in the family
and schools of those adolescents. Moreover, the community nurse must eliminate the
sources of violence in which adolescents of vulnerable social groups are exposed and
defend human rights, when they find that they are being violated. Finally, they should
participate in programs to shape their psychosocial support health policies, aiming at
more complete and holistic social changes that will signify the increase of equality in
the field of Health.
Keywords:
Community Nursing, Adolescents, Vulnerable groups, Homeless, Inmates, Refugees, Drug addicts
