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Wellbeing and mental health are fundamental rights of children and adolescents essential for sustainable development. Understanding the epidemiology of child and adolescent wellbeing is essential to informing population health approaches to improving wellbeing and preventing mental illness.
Increasing numbers of trans young people are seeking medical services worldwide, but there have been few qualitative investigations of the experiences of trans young people attempting to engage with these services to explore in-depth experiences of clinical interactions.
This chapter discusses the importance of investment in early life determinants of health to break the cycle of long-term disadvantage. This chapter addresses these issues while focussing on neurodevelopmental disorders and their related mental health concerns as the targets at the centre of a biopsychosocial transformation of the health system.
Globally, rates of children with physical and mental health problems are increasing. Health issues in early childhood often persist into adulthood, highlighting the need to ensure children are supported to flourish from the start of life.
Children far in advance of pubertal development may be deferred from further assessment for gender-affirming medical treatment until nearer puberty. It is vital that returning peripubertal patients are seen promptly to ensure time-sensitive assessment and provision of puberty suppression treatment where appropriate.
People with intellectual disabilities living in group homes often have complex health needs, are high health service users and need support from their service provider to access health services. In Australia, little is known about the types and amounts of these supports.
Young people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer or questioning, asexual and other diverse genders and sexualities (LGBTQA+) are at greater risk of adverse mental health outcomes and suicide, with additional barriers to accessing safe and affirming physical and mental health services in comparison to the general population.
There is a dire paucity of research into the burden, correlates and motives of substance use among trans young people in Australia.
Mental health problems are common among university students, yet many students do not seek professional help. Digital mental health interventions can increase students' access to support and have been shown to be effective in preventing and treating mental health problems. However, little is known about the extent to which students implement therapeutic skills from these programs in everyday life (ie, skill enactment) or about the impact of skill enactment on outcomes.
Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) is particularly common among trans young people. Trans young people tend to experience high levels of emotional distress due to the unique stressors they face, and often use NSSI as an emotion regulation strategy. These stressors include gender dysphoria, body image concerns, and transphobic experiences.