Culturally Competent Health Communication

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I want to digress for a moment and discuss a personal situation with my classmates regarding this week’s assignment. Last year my daughter was treated by our family physician for anxiety with Xanax. She later became addicted to it, abused it, and ultimately overdosed. She spent 30 days at Hazelden a rehabilitation facility for teens, and several months in outpatient care and still sees a psychologist for her anxiety. She is sober and currently in college. I felt it important to let you know about this, because this week’s assignment on Culturally Competent Health Communication made me reflect on my daughter and think about the internet as a venue for teens to get help. I choose to look at the information as though high school freshman, thru the eyes and heart of a teen, trying to get help, for myself a friend or family member. I am breaking a cardinal rule of anonymity in A.A. and Ala-Non by disclosing that my “qualifier” is my daughter. I would request that should you ever happen to meet me and she is with me that her anonymity be protected. It was a very difficult time in her life that she does not like to talk about. All her life she will be in recovery but she chooses to look forward, not back. She has given me permission to write the above statement. It is her personal health journey and even though I am her parent, it not my right to disclose her addiction without her permission

Culturally Competent Health Communication

I knew I wanted to locate a website on addiction and treatment specifically for teens and college age (young people) audience. A website that was straight forward that would lead young people to their local hospital, addiction treatment center, or Narcotics Anonymous or similar support grou...

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...cial media to communicate and having Facebook and Twitter type icons may promote engagement. This website, while informative tries to be too encompassing, less can be more.

References
American Journal of Health Education, 39(1), 61-64. doi: doi:10.1080/19325037.2008.10599016
Nicotine Addiction Quiz. (n.d.). Smokefree.gov. Retrieved from http://smokefree.gov/nicotine-addiction-quiz Hedman, A. S. (2007). "Using the SMOG formula to revise a health-related document"
Parvanta, C. F. (2011). Essentials of public health communication. Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration. (n.d.). Find Help. Retrieved from http://www.samhsa.gov/treatment/index.aspx
Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration. (n.d.). The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Retrieved from http://www.samhsa.gov/

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