Psychosocial research and the hospitalized adolescent: approaches and challenges

Hospitalized adolescents regularly become participants in psychosocial research within acute-care hospital settings. Examples of studies within the four common approaches used to examine and describe the behaviors of this group (instructional, theoretical, informational, experimental) are briefly described. The impact of various illness states (acute, chronic, terminal) and the readiness of the adolescent to be involved in such research are also discussed. The measurement of adolescent behavior and appropriate instrumentation are presented as areas of challenge for future psychosocial research.