E-health services supporting adolescent lifestyle
Seppä, Laura (2021)
Seppä, Laura
2021
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2021052912440
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2021052912440
Tiivistelmä
The aim of this literature review is to find out what kind of risk factors related to health and lifestyle adolescents have and how e-health services could offer solutions. The themes in this work are related to youths’ wellbeing and its problem areas. The purpose is to seek e-health services directed for adolescents and examine how they could improve adolescent health. Adolescents’ needs for e-health services are defined through specific lifestyle-related factors. Based on these needs, the usefulness of possible future e-health services is evaluated. In addition, this work seeks to find and report currently existing e-health services. This study aims to assess the feasibility and suitability of adolescent e-health services from the perspective of health promotion. Promotion of the population’s health is important in order to prevent health-related problems and positively affect people’s health in the long run. The research problems are 1. What kind of lifestyle related e-health services are available for adolescents 2. What kind of services are needed. This thesis is a descriptive literature review. Literature discussing the subject is sought and essential findings are collected. Material is gathered from databases, literature and websites. Some of the most utilized databases are PMC, PubMed, Cinahl and Google Scholar. The target group of this thesis is 13-29-year olds. Literature search was limited to results less than ten years old, which are in Finnish or English and available in full text. Peer reviewed articles were favored.
As information technology becomes more advanced and common, new e-health solutions are developed. Many e-health services are suitable for adolescents or targeted specifically for them. The results indicated that e-health services are available for adolescents for various kinds of health problems. There are many means for influencing lifestyle habits, including health related websites, smartphone applications, chats and conversational platforms, self-help programmes, game-like techniques, wearables and remote appointments. The findings indicated that especially e-services for mental health are common and easily accessible. In comparison, e-health services related to oral health are quite scarce, which is why they could be developed in the future as oral health can have a major impact on prevention of illnesses. Adolescents should be involved in the development process of new e-health services to create these services according to their wishes and opinions. This literature review examines e-health services available for adolescents and potential development needs.
As information technology becomes more advanced and common, new e-health solutions are developed. Many e-health services are suitable for adolescents or targeted specifically for them. The results indicated that e-health services are available for adolescents for various kinds of health problems. There are many means for influencing lifestyle habits, including health related websites, smartphone applications, chats and conversational platforms, self-help programmes, game-like techniques, wearables and remote appointments. The findings indicated that especially e-services for mental health are common and easily accessible. In comparison, e-health services related to oral health are quite scarce, which is why they could be developed in the future as oral health can have a major impact on prevention of illnesses. Adolescents should be involved in the development process of new e-health services to create these services according to their wishes and opinions. This literature review examines e-health services available for adolescents and potential development needs.