Living with Tourette's syndrome.

Illnesses in children are difficult enough, but for children and adolescents with Tourette's syndrome, the emergence of unwelcome motor and vocal tics in social situations can lead to not only embarrassment, but also increased self-consciousness, social isolation, thoughts of persecution, and physical pain. This article offers an overview of Tourette's syndrome and focuses on DSM-IV-TR criteria, severity, prevalence and course, etiology and epidemiology, indications for medications, psychosocial therapies, and nursing implications.

Using Freirean empowerment for health education with adolescents in primary, secondary, and tertiary psychiatric settings.

Topic: Engaging adolescents in health education through the application of Paulo Freire's three-stage empowerment model in primary, secondary, and tertiary psychiatric settings.

Purpose: To demonstrate how nurses can support adolescent autonomy and facilitate adolescent self and collective learning through group process, peer teaching, and development of critical thinking skills.

Sources: A synthesis of nursing, medical, and health education literature resulted in identification of Freire's empowerment model and its application with adolescents in primary prevention settings.