Youth-Adult Partnerships for Health Advocacy
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Date
2019-04
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Ohio State University. Office of Outreach and Engagement
Abstract
Through intentional youth-adult partnerships, youth can effectively help increase support for, recommend, and argue to promote causes and policies that support healthful options and behaviors. Specifically, youth in the health advocate role can identify healthy behaviors, formulate and implement action plans, and generate positive impacts for themselves and their communities. The Ohio 4-H Healthy Living Advocate (HLA) program is based on a youth-adult partnership model in which informal or formal relationships are designed to foster equity. Program leaders are committed to understanding the teen members’ needs, ensuring trust, and providing leadership and teaching responsibilities that leverage the teens’ strengths for mutual benefit. Successes are disseminated widely in reports, social media, broadcast media, and other communications. This poster highlights partnership principles in the HLA program and suggests strategies for enhancing youth-adult partnerships for health advocacy.
Description
Communities are addressing health issues from multiple perspectives and strengthening engagement with various cross-sector partners. Although they are often not included in the process, teens can play an important role in teaching about healthy living and in advocating for changes in available options, systems, and even policies (Rodgers & Vinluan, 2018). Youth development programs have focused on improving youth health through increasing individuals’ knowledge, skills, and aspirations and encouraging the adoption of healthy lifestyle practices (Agans et al., 2015). For greatest impact and sustainability, however, efforts must go beyond influencing individual behavioral change (Arnold & Ferrari, 2018; Smathers et al., 2018). Advocating for health refers to the process of increasing support for, recommending, and arguing to promote a cause or policy that supports healthful options and behaviors (Carlisle, 2000). It involves education, skill development, and behavior and attitude changes with the goal of persuading others to act (Millstein & Sallis, 2011). Successful youth-adult partnerships include three key elements: positive youth–adult relationships, skill-building opportunities, and meaningful roles and leadership opportunities (Roth & Brooks-Gunn, 2016). Specifically, youth in the health advocate role have the potential to identify health behaviors, formulate and implement action strategies, and generate substantial positive impacts for themselves and their communities (Smathers & Ferrari, 2018). Youth who advocate for change are often perceived as more enthusiastic, novel, and authentic, and better able to communicate unique perspectives than adults. Through intentional youth-adult partnerships, youth advocates can build a knowledge base, practice skills and behaviors, increase awareness of issues, and be empowered to enact change (Andrade et al., 2015; Arnold et al., 2016). The Ohio 4-H Healthy Living Advocate (HLA) program is based on a youth-adult partnership model in which informal or formal relationships are designed to foster equity between partners (Murdock & Paterson, 2002). Program leaders are committed to ensuring trust, compromise, efficiency, and sustainability through their communications with teen members and ensuring that as leaders they "practice what they preach." The adult leaders incorporate opportunities to expand their awareness of the teens’ needs associated with their values, assets, and challenges. They provide teens with leadership opportunities, teaching responsibilities, and advocacy activities that leverage the teens’ strengths for mutual benefit and collective impact. The adult leaders recognize successes achieved by disseminating them widely in reports, social media, broadcast media, and other communications. This poster will highlight examples of partnership principles practiced within the HLA program and suggest strategies for addressing challenges to youth-adult partnerships for health advocacy.
AUTHOR AFFILIATION: Carol Smathers, assistant professor, OSU Extension, carolsmathers@hotmail.com (Corresponding Author); Theresa Ferrari, professor and OSU Extension specialist, 4-H youth development
AUTHOR AFFILIATION: Carol Smathers, assistant professor, OSU Extension, carolsmathers@hotmail.com (Corresponding Author); Theresa Ferrari, professor and OSU Extension specialist, 4-H youth development
Keywords
youth-adult partnerships, advocacy, health
Citation
Engaged Scholars, v. 7 (2019).