28 Dec Describe two treatment

NURS6660 Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Role I: Child and Adolescent

Week 2 Discussion

Working With Children and Adolescents Versus Adults

Infant, childhood, and adolescent development are a continual interplay between nature (genetic or biologic predisposition) and nurture (environmental experiences). The nature/nurture continuum and debate will always be a part of your career as a PMHNP. Knowing common developmental milestone is important in the role as a child provider. Not only is it essential to the diagnostic process, but it is also important to the interdisciplinary interactions with other mental health professionals. The study of normal developmental processes, however, is only one tool that allows the mental health professional to understand the child being evaluated. There are many different assessment instruments and interviewing techniques that PMHNPs can have in their toolkit when working with children and adolescents.

In this Discussion, you examine the differences in assessing and treating children and adolescents versus adults. You take into consideration your own clinical experiences, as well as your experiences in your clinical rotation, and the information from the readings thus far.

Learning Objectives

Students will:

Analyze the importance of developmental assessments

Analyze assessment instruments used for evaluating children and adolescents

Analyze treatment options used for children and adolescents

Analyze roles parents play in assessment and treatment

To Prepare for the Discussion

Review the Learning Resources concerning psychiatric assessments and assessment tools.

Note: For this Discussion, you are required to complete your initial post before you will be able to view and respond to your colleagues’ postings. Begin by clicking on the “Post to Discussion Question” link and then select “Create Thread” to complete your initial post. Remember, once you click submit, you cannot delete or edit your own posts and cannot post anonymously. Please check your post carefully before clicking Submit!

By Day 3

Post your answers to the following:

Explain why a developmental assessment of children and adolescents is important.

Describe two assessment instruments and explain why they are used for children and adolescents but not adults.

Describe two treatment options for children and adolescents that may not be used when treating adults.

Explain the role parents play in assessment and treatment.

By Day 6

Respond to at least two of your colleagues by offering additional insights or alternative perspectives on their diagnosis or provide alternate next questions and why you selected those.