Healthy Teen Network believes that adolescent sexual and reproductive health is a social justice issue with public health impacts. These impacts are confounded by how and where youth live, learn, and play and require a holistic Youth 360⁰ approach to achieve equity.

Download the print version of the strategic plan below; you may also read the accompanying blog post by Pat Paluzzi.

By 2020, Healthy Teen Network will work in all 50 states, U.S. territories, and the District of Columbia to build the capacity of youth-supporting professionals to empower young people to thrive.

Goal 1

Advance integration of a holistic approach to adolescent sexual and reproductive health programs and services.

Healthy Teen Network will build the capacity of youth-supporting professionals and organizations to:

1. Adopt a holistic approach and integrate the social determinants of health into their work.
2. Broaden their scope by building partnerships and collaborate beyond the field of adolescent sexual and reproductive health.
3. Ensure that they are inclusive of all young people, especially young families.

Goal 2

Lead the use of evidence and innovation to support and empower young people to thrive.

Healthy Teen Network will:

1. Incorporate both evidence and innovation in our work.
2. Develop solutions that are responsive to peoples’ needs using a human-centered approach.
3. Build the capacity of youth-supporting professionals and organizations to incorporate evidence and innovation into their work.

Goal 3

Promote and advance adolescent sexual and reproductive health as critical to the well-being of our nation.

Healthy Teen Network will advocate to:

1. Maintain a spotlight on adolescent sexual and reproductive health.
2. Promote understanding of the interplay of the environment and individuals on sexual and reproductive health outcomes.
3. Build the capacity of youth-supporting professionals and organizations to use effective messages and delivery strategies to mobilize diverse audiences to promote adolescent health.

Relevant Terms

Social Justice

Social justice includes a vision of society that is equitable and all members are physically and psychologically safe and secure.

Youth 360⁰

What determines how long we live…if we thrive…how healthy we are? Is it…what we do…who we are…where we live…our families? How and where we live, learn, and play matters. We cannot expect to significantly impact health outcomes and address health disparities without considering the critical factors, or social determinants of health, that shape our well-being.

Healthy Teen Network developed Youth 360° (based on an assessment of the field, as part of our 2013-2016 Strategic Plan) to make it easier to talk about and understand the intersection of the social determinants of health and social-ecological theory, and how each of us is affected by factors at an individual level, but also through our relationships and communities, and in society as a whole. Youth 360° is more than just a messaging tool; it is a way to approach systems-based change to respond to the dynamic lives of young people.

Social Determinants of Health

Social determinants of health are elements in the environment in which youth live, learn, and play that shape their long-term physical, mental, emotional, and social health and well-being.

Evidence

Evidence-based strategies and approaches are effective and efficient ways to achieve positive outcomes. Related terms include science-based, research-based, or proven effective. Evidence-based strategies and approaches go beyond simply proven effective programs (also known as evidence-based programs or interventions).

“Evidence” includes a variety of possible strategies and approaches:

• Using a needs and resource assessment
• Using a logic model to identify data-driven goals, behaviors, and risk and protective factors (or determinants), based on the assessment
• Using health behavior change theory/theories
• Using proven effective, evidence-based, or evidence-informed programs and interventions
• Using common characteristics of other proven effective, or evidence-based programs
• Conducting process and outcome evaluation

Innovation

Innovation is a critical component of a comprehensive strategy to respond to the dynamic lives of adolescents and young adults. Innovation is the creative development or adaptation of something to create something new that adds value or serves a purpose.

To be effective, innovation should apply evidence. For example, assessment findings could inform the development of a new program that will fit its priority population. Or, health behavior change theory, such as social cognitive theory, is used to develop intervention activities for a new innovative program.