Description:

Join the Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing (ISGMH) for our April Current Issues in LGBTQ Health lecture, Policies That Impact Adolescent Health: A Deep Dive Into Minor Consent Laws, featuring Kimberly Nelson, PhD. 

About the Lecture

In the United States (US), adolescents are significantly burdened by sexual and mental health concerns. Sexual, gender, and racial/ethnic minoritized adolescents are disproportionately affected. Guardian consent requirements are a significant barrier to care for minors who are unable or unwilling to involve their guardian when they are seeking sexual and mental health services. To address this obstacle, states have enacted statutes granting minors legal capacity to consent to sexual and mental health services without their guardians’ consent. This talk will include a detailed overview of the history of minor consent laws for mental health, substance use, and HIV/STI services in the US as well as survey data with adolescents from across the US about their knowledge of the HIV/STI laws and how that knowledge relates to their use of HIV/STI services. 

About the Speaker

Kimberly M. Nelson, PhD, MPH earned her MPH in epidemiology from the University of Washington (UW) and a PhD in clinical psychology also from UW. She is also faculty of the Fordham University Research Ethics Training Institute. Having both a public health and psychology background, Dr. Nelson's research focuses on understanding and intervening on psychological and structural determinants of health inequities with a particular focus on sexual health inequities among marginalized adolescents and adults. Additionally, her work focuses on the ethical and legal issues involved in sexual health research and interventions with adolescents and ways to use technology effectively and ethically for data collection and health promotion interventions.