Enhancing Youth Engagement in Health Promotion: Evaluating the Impact and Strategies of a Teen Consultant Program

Abstract

Youth engagement in health promotion and disease prevention is mutually beneficial but often challenging to achieve. The Providers and Teens Communicating for Health (PATCH) Teen Consultant Program addresses these challenges by connecting youth, ages 13–19 years, with youth-serving professionals seeking input on health-related projects, programs, and practices. This mixed-method evaluation, using program records and key informant interviews, assessed the effectiveness of PATCH’s youth consulting sessions and identified areas for improvement. Findings indicate that PATCH successfully facilitated meaningful youth engagement. Clients highly valued the creative and impactful feedback from Teen Consultants, which led to improvements in their projects and strategies for engaging youth. Teen Consultants reported significant personal growth, including increased confidence, leadership skills, and a greater understanding of their influence. The evaluation highlights PATCH’s effectiveness in overcoming barriers to youth engagement and suggests that similar models could enhance adolescent involvement in health promotion efforts.

Keywords

adolescent health youth engagement teen consultants lived experience youth development program evaluation

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