Parent involvement in health concerns for youth: the issue of adolescent immunization.

Parents play a primary role in the health and health education of their children. In particular, parent involvement in planning and promoting adolescent immunization campaigns is critical to successful efforts. Parents serve as their children's primary educators on health issues, but where can they get accurate health information? To help guide local PTA units in their programmatic efforts, the National PTA maintains positions and policy statements on multiple health issues: alcohol and other drug abuse; emergency preparedness; environmental issues; family life education; firearm safety; HIV prevention; health screenings; immunization (measles, mumps, rubella, and hepatitis B); lead poisoning; nutrition; protective helmet use; sexual assault prevention; TB testing; tobacco use and access; violence prevention; and youth suicide prevention. Likewise, the school-home partnership is key to promoting the health of adolescents. Comprehensive school health programs and integrated services are necessary to support parent and community efforts to promote adolescent health issues, including immunization programs. Techniques for effective parent involvement, based on the National Standards for Family/Parent Involvement issued by the National PTA January 1997, are discussed.