Teen Health & Wellness: Real Life, Real Answers is a comprehensive database that allows teens (and those who care about teens) to research health-related issues important to their well-being. It’s both a research/report tool and a self-help resource. If you do not find the answer to your question in our extensive help section, please see our User’s Guide or contact us for further assistance.

System Requirements

Teen Health & Wellness is supported on Windows and macOS. To ensure the best experience, we recommend using the latest version of your preferred browser:

• Chrome or Chromium-based browser (current and previous two versions)
• Firefox (current and previous two versions)
• Safari (current and previous two versions)

The site is compatible with Apple and Android devices, netbooks, interactive whiteboards, Chromebooks, 2-in-1 laptops, and learning management systems such as Blackboard and Google+.

Teen Health & Wellness supports integration with all major LMS systems.

Accessing the Site

Teen Health & Wellness is a subscription-based website. You can log on to the site via username and password, referring URL, IP authentication, or Google Single Sign-On.

If you have trouble accessing the site, please contact the person inside your school, library, or institution in charge of database access. If you need further help, please contact us. When contacting us, please have ready your account information, including the name of the institution or individual on the account.

Single Sign-On (SSO)

Institutions configure Google Single Sign-On (SSO) to make it fast and easy for users to access multiple products. Interested customers should contact Customer Care to implement Single Sign-On with Teen Health & Wellness. If your institution uses SSO, and has configured this site to work with it, users can simply click the “Instant Login” button and sign in with their Google SSO credentials. Rosen Publishing does not sell any data from Google Single Sign-On or use it for marketing purposes.

Mobile App

The Teen Hotlines app is available for Apple and Android devices and Chromebooks. This free app lists hotlines, help lines, and websites organized by subject. From school violence and depression to eating disorders and suicide, these national organizations can also refer teens to state and local services in their community. Users can also store a username and password allowing them to access Teen Health & Wellness with just one click.

Editorial Philosophy

Authoritative content from Rosen Publishing—the most trusted name in guidance resources for over fifty years—is available online for the first time, in Teen Health & Wellness. In keeping with Rosen tradition, all content in Teen Health & Wellness is created for teens with their unique concerns and perspective in mind. Information throughout is presented using a sensitive, respectful, and age-appropriate approach. Teen-friendly articles make complex topics understandable. They also give insight into the teen experience—crucial for parents, teachers, librarians, therapists, and others who are part of teens’ lives and who support them.

Teen Health & Wellness provides comprehensive curricular support. Developed with a team of experienced health and wellness writers, educators, librarians, and expert reviewers, it contains critical information for research and reports, and is closely aligned to curriculum standards. You can view state, national, and provincial curriculum correlations.

Teen Health & Wellness is for educational purposes only. While our goal is to provide comprehensive, up-to-date information on teen health and wellness issues, we cannot provide health and wellness advice or send a personal reply to health-related questions. If teens have a question on a health or wellness issue, we strongly encourage them to speak to a qualified medical professional or a trusted adult, such as a parent, teacher, or guidance counselor.

Award-Winning Content

Now fully updated with a fresh, new look and feel, Teen Health & Wellness has the trusted content you rely on and expect. It has received critical acclaim and won numerous awards, including Top 10 Digital Resource and a “Must Have” Product by School Library Journal, Best Reference Source by Library Journal, and Best New Product, Readers’ Choice Awards by The Charleston Advisor. The database has been honored with AEP (Association of Educational Publishers) Distinguished Achievement, BESSIE (Best Educational Software), EDDIE (Annual Education Software Review), and World Wide Web Health awards.

Teen Health & Wellness has received critical acclaim and won numerous awards, including being voted a 2007 Top 10 Digital Resource by School Library Journal and a “Must Have” Product for Fall 2008, being selected as one of Library Journal’s Best Reference Sources of 2007, and being named Best New Product, 2007 Readers’ Choice Awards by The Charleston Advisor. The database has also been honored with an EDDIE (Annual Education Software Review) Award, an Association of Educational Publishers (AEP) Distinguished Achievement Award, a World Wide Web Health Award, and a Best Educational Software (BESSIE) Award.

The database draws on Rosen’s award-winning series, including Coping, Need to Know, and others. This resource includes material adapted from an extensive library of more than 500 new and backlist Rosen books from its most trusted and respected series. Through a rigorous editorial process, all content is thoroughly revised and updated for online use.

To ensure its accuracy and relevance, all content is reviewed and updated on an ongoing basis. Our standards of editorial integrity mandate that each entry includes the date it was last updated. In addition, all content strives to be inclusive in terms of race, sex, religion, economic status, and other teen experiences.

Teen Health & Wellness does not accept advertising.

Expert Review Board

All content in Teen Health & Wellness is reviewed by a team of leading professionals across fields including medicine, mental health, nutrition, substance abuse prevention, guidance, and career counseling. Find out more about the members of the Teen Health & Wellness Expert Review Board and read their biographies.

Librarian/Educator Resources

Teen Health & Wellness offers an extensive array of resources to help librarians and educators most effectively use their database subscription. From curriculum correlations and administration tools, to program ideas and a sample press release, to promotional materials and Web buttons, you can find all the tools you need to support your colleagues and teen users here.

The Librarian/Educator Resources page allows you to customize your hotlines and access your usage statistics. You can also offer your teen users an opportunity to share their personal stories for online publication through our Personal Story Project or create and submit a video PSA (public service announcement) about any Teen Health & Wellness topic. Videos that meet submission requirements and editorial policies will be published on Teen Health & Wellness.

Click the link to the Librarian/Educator Resources in the footer of any page. Then click any link on this page to explore the many resources available to librarians and educators.

Accessibility

At Teen Health & Wellness, we are committed to ensuring that our products are accessible to all users, including persons with disabilities.

Teen Health & Wellness meets all level-one guidelines of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. It is also designed to meet Priority 1 and 2 of the Web 3 Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0. Compliance with each of these guidelines, as well as AODA requirements, have also been documented and reviewed during the visual design build phase. If you have trouble accessing or reading any part of this site, please contact us.

Teen Health & Wellness also features AccessiBe, an accessibility tool that helps make our site friendlier for users with disabilities. Users can adjust AccessiBe’s settings to clear flashes, enhance visuals, reduce distractions, increase focus, and optimize for screen readers, among other features. For users with screen readers, the tool is enabled automatically. AccessiBe aims to adhere as strictly as possible to the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG 2.1) at the AA level. You can check all the features by clicking on the icon in the lower right corner of the screen on any page. From there, you can explore all the tools that are available.

External Links and Resources

All recommended websites and organizations are annotated and reviewed by Rosen’s team of editors, professionals experienced in creating content for teens.

However, since web content is constantly changing, the Rosen Publishing Group recommends that young adults and children check with their parents or teachers before visiting any linked websites.

Recommended fiction and nonfiction books are based on selections from leading experts in their fields as well as from young adult librarians.

Scientific American: Resource Articles

Teen Health & Wellness has partnered with Scientific American magazine to offer reviewed content about important research, health, technology, science, the environment, and society. Scientific American is the oldest continuously published magazine in the United States and continues to be a trusted source for the latest information and happenings in science around the world.

Scientific American magazine articles have been reviewed and selected by Rosen’s team of editors and added to appropriate sections for educators and students. These high-interest articles provide additional and unique content regarding Teen Health & Wellness topics to further support health and science inquiry and instruction. While students can read the additional content individually, educators and librarians can also use the archive of Scientific American: Resource Articles to use selections as a resource for group or classroom instruction.

Homepage

The homepage includes several high-interest, topical features that are updated on an ongoing basis. To reach the homepage from anywhere in the site, simply click the Teen Health & Wellness logo on the upper left of any page.

In the News

This section highlights current events, news, and research in health and wellness. It will direct you to a featured article via a link at the bottom of the section.

Dr. Jan’s Corner

This section features questions and answers submitted by teen users and answered by a licensed psychologist. The question appears on the homepage. To read Dr. Jan’s response, simply click the link “Read Dr. Jan’s answer.” From here, you can click to an article related to the topic or read past question and answers. To pose your own question, click the link to “Ask a question” from the homepage or any Q&A page.

Get Informed

This section features dynamic, high-interest videos addressing a wide range of teen issues. Videos are either professionally made or student-submitted. A link below the video will direct you to an article on the featured topic. Teens can send in their own videos by clicking the “Submit your own video” link on the homepage.

Teen Health & Wellness does not accept student videos with profanity, nudity, violence, or other inappropriate content. However, because of the sensitive nature of some topics, videos may contain images some viewers find disturbing.

Tell Your Story

This section features an authentic, first-person account from a teen who shares a personal experience dealing with a health or wellness–related issue. These stories have been accepted for submission via Rosen Publishing’s Personal Story Project. Personal stories are part of the permanent article content of the site. They can be linked to via the homepage or the table of contents in the articles in which they appear.

Teens can submit their own personal stories for publication in the database by clicking the “Share your own story” link on the homepage.

Cast Your Vote/Test Your Knowledge

Cast Your Vote allows you to share your opinion on a topic. After voting, you will see the poll results, which will include your vote. You can then also click to an article about the topic. Test Your Knowledge allows you to test your knowledge. After choosing an answer, you’ll see if you are right and find more information about the correct answer. You can also click to an article about the topic.

Did You Know?

This section highlights interesting, little-known facts and statistics about an issue. You can also click to read an article about the topic.

RSS Feeds

Popular homepage features “In the News,” “Dr. Jan’s Corner,” and “Did You Know?” are available for use in news readers and blogs via RSS (Really Simple Syndication). These free feeds include headlines, summaries, and links back to the database for more information. Click the RSS symbol at the bottom of any page to subscribe to a feed or get more information.

Hotlines

Hotlines contains important hotlines and helplines—as well as the names, addresses, and websites of organizations that deal with critical health and wellness topics. Teens in crisis can find national hotlines, available 24 hours a day, seven days a week here. Users can reach the Hotlines section from any page of the site in two ways: the link in the top right of the page or the link in the left navigation bar.

Libraries can add their own local resources to the database’s unique, customizable Hotlines page. This innovative feature lets librarians add their own local content to accompany the national resources provided by the database. This local content will appear on the Hotlines page visible to all users who have logged into the database via their library. The local content will appear below the box with emergency and 911 information and above the national resources provided by the database.

To customize their hotlines, librarians can click the link to the Librarian/Educator Resources in the footer of any page. From the Librarian/Educator Resources page, click the link to Customize Your Hotlines in the left navigation bar. You can also contact us for further assistance.

The Teen Hotlines mobile app gives 24/7 access to hotlines, help lines, and websites on Apple and Android devices and Chromebooks.

Calm Room

The Teen Health & Wellness Calm Room is a place to relax, recharge, and refocus. This collection of nature videos, sounds and music, animal cams, and more provides a calming space for quick, mindful breaks to manage emotions and reduce stress and anxiety. The Calm Room supports the needs of the entire Teen Health & Wellness family: students, staff, teachers, librarians, parents, counselors, and all who need a few moments to reset and restore.

Search and Browse

You can find articles on the site by search or by browse.

Search

You can search for an article from any page using the search box on the top right of the page. Simply type in your search term(s) and click Go.

On your search results page, results are ranked in order of relevance. Each result also shows the search term(s) as it appears in context in the article. In each result, the search term(s) is highlighted to make it easier to find. You can narrow your search by subject using the pull-down menu at the top of the results page. You can also click the numbers at the bottom of the results page to see additional pages of search results.

Advanced users can search using the Boolean operators AND, OR and NOT as well as the wildcard operators * and ?.

To select a result, simply click it to go to the article page. Your search term(s) will be highlighted on the article page to make it easy to find.

If your search does not return any results, the site will try to suggest other search terms that will return better results for you. Your results page will display “Did you mean” with up to three choices of alternate searches. Click any of those terms to start a new search with the term. Or click the link to browse subjects by A–Z.

If your search does not return any results, and the site is unable to identify other search terms to suggest, it will offer some tips for better searching and urge you to try to find what you’re seeking in alternate ways.

Browse by Subject

To browse by subject, simply click on the Subject button in the top navigational bar anywhere in the site. You will then see a listing of the major topics the site covers. Clicking any of these will show a listing of subcategories with articles listed below them.

Browse by A–Z

You can also browse for topics using an alphabetical list. Simply click the A–Z button in the top navigational bar anywhere in the site. From the Browse A–Z page, select a letter at the top of the page to see topics that begin with that letter.

The A–Z browse displays all articles alphabetized by the article name. It also contains all key topics found within articles, alphabetized by the key topic name. The name of the article the key topic appears in is displayed in parenthesis after the key topic.

For example, the article on Anemia appears in the A–Z browse under the letter A. The key topic Blood, which is found within the Anemia article, appears in the A–Z browse under the letter B. It appears as “Blood (found in Anemia).”

Click the name of an article to go to the first section of the article. Click the name of the key topic to go to the page the key topic appears on within the article.

Articles

All articles are laid out in the same format to allow for easy reading and navigation. The left side of each page features buttons that allow you to print or email the article. The Cite button lets you generate citations using NoodleTools. You can also view the article citation in MLA (Modern Language Association), APA (American Psychological Association), or Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition) format.

The article table of contents appears below these buttons. Click on any section in the table of contents to navigate to that section. You can also click on the title of a Related Article to read about topics similar to the current article.

Each article contains a Resources section with websites, organizations, and recommended reading annotated and reviewed by Rosen editors. Each article also includes a For Further Reading section that lists recommended nonfiction and fiction titles related to the topic. Users can suggest books to be added to this list by selecting the link to “Have a favorite book on this topic? Recommend it here.” For Further Reading lists can also be linked into a library’s Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC).

In the top right corner of each article are three helpful tools:

• The Save button allows you to save the article to Google Drive.
• The Select Language drop-down menu allows you to instantly translate article text into over 100 languages.
• The Share tool allows you to save and share articles with family and friends via Facebook or other services. With this feature, full articles can be viewed with no login required.

Links to Previous Section and Next Section allow you to navigate backward and forward through the sections of the article.

Disclaimer: Teen Health & Wellness offers a machine translation of selected content. This functionality is provided solely for your convenience and is in no way intended to replace human translation. Rosen Publishing makes no representations or warranties with respect to these translations.

At the end of each section, you can find the name of the reviewer, as well as the date on which the article was last updated and the article citation in MLA, APA, or Chicago Manual of Style format. The name of the reviewer links to that reviewer’s biography.

Last, all articles contain visual elements, including call-outs, images, and icons. To view an image in a larger format, click the “View Larger Image” link. A new window will open with a larger version of the image. This is especially useful for viewing images that contain labels. From this window, you can print the larger version of the image. If you wish to email the larger version of the image, simply use the Email button on the left navigation bar and check the “Attach Article Images” box.

Video

Teen Health & Wellness contains dozens of high-interest videos that bring the content to life and support visual learners. The videos are designed to work in all compatible browsers (see System Requirements above for details).

To play a video, click on it or select the play icon in the controls displayed along the bottom of the video player.

Click the “CC” button in the bottom-right corner of the video player to view closed captions for the video. Click the “View Transcript” button below the video player to view a transcript of the video, and click the “Hide Transcript” button to close the transcript.

Text-to-Speech

Teen Health & Wellness is proud to offer text-to-speech by ReadSpeaker. Text-to-speech helps newer, challenged, or ESL readers by allowing them to listen to article text as it is read aloud. ReadSpeaker works within all supported browsers.

Text-to-speech is accessible in two ways. First, by clicking the “Listen” button at the top of each article section. This opens a small audio player directly on the page, where you can listen to the section text read aloud in either a male or female voice, pause or stop the audio, and adjust the audio speed and volume to your liking.

The player also includes a drop-down menu with access to even more settings, including controls over how text is highlighted as it is read, the ability to scroll pages automatically in synchronization with the text being read, a page mask that helps readers focus by dimming the browser window except for a resizable band surrounding the text being read, and more. And the menu’s Text Mode option lets you display article section text in a separate window free from distraction, while providing granular control over text characteristics such as type size, color, spacing, and font, including the ability to apply the Open Dyslexic font designed to mitigate some symptoms of dyslexia. Finally, the menu gives you the option to download an article section’s audio as an MP3 file directly to your device.

In addition, ReadSpeaker integrates with Google Translate to provide text-to-speech in 13 languages besides English. When you choose Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, or Spanish in the Select Language drop-down menu at the top-right of every article section and then click “Listen”, the player seamlessly reads the translated text as it appears on the page aloud.

The second way to activate text-to-speech is by selecting text in an article—either a word, sentence, or entire paragraph—and clicking “Listen” in the popup menu that appears. The popup menu also includes a dictionary for quick text definitions and the ability to translate selected text into multiple languages.

There’s a Help button in the ReadSpeaker drop-down menu, which includes topics that should answer any questions you have about the text-to-speech feature.

Text Translation

The text translation feature provided by Google Translate allows users to translate article text into more than 100 languages, including Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. Just select the language of your choice from the drop-down menu at the top of each article section.

Enhanced Text Visibility

Enhanced text visibility, a way to enlarge article text so that it’s easier to see, is available in ReadSpeaker, the text-to-speech feature available in all Teen Health & Wellness articles. To turn on enhanced text visibility in an article, click the “Listen” button at the top of each article section, click the menu icon in the upper-left corner of the ReadSpeaker player, and select Enlarge Text.

Icons

Teen Health & Wellness includes a group of icons that highlight key information in all articles. An example of each icon, along with its description and use, is included below.

Report Worthy. What this icon indicates: A key fact or important statistic that students would want to include in a school report. Example: Children born into families with a history of asthma have a greater likelihood of developing asthma.

Call Your Doctor. What this icon indicates: A note to a user to follow up with a doctor. Example: You can still play sports, even if you have exercise-induced asthma. You have to choose your sport carefully, and a doctor’s input might be helpful.

Checklist. What this icon indicates: A list of items to remember. Example: You can help your doctor by noting all your symptoms and when they occur. You should also record when and where your attacks happen.

Helping Hand. What this icon indicates: A note on where to go for help. Example: If you don’t feel like you can talk to your parents about their high expectations, consider talking to a favorite aunt or uncle, or family friend.

Med Speak. What this icon indicates: Medical terminology or jargon. Example: Immunoglobulin E (IgE) is found on the surface of circulating white blood cells called basophiles and on mast cells (a type of cells that line the walls of the nose, bronchial tubes, intestines, and skin).

You’re Not Alone. What this icon indicates: A reminder that others are going through this same experience. Example: Nearly 5 million people under age 18 suffer from asthma.

Quick Tip. What this icon indicates: A practical, memorable tip that users should keep in mind. Example: Float your inhaler in a bowl of water to see if it’s almost empty.

Reality Check. What this icon indicates: Information that’s surprising or contradictory to popular belief or that users just plain don’t want to accept. Example: If you have severe asthma, avoid going to the home of someone who has a pet.

By the Numbers. What this icon indicates: An interesting or useful statistic or a quantifiable fact. Example: Each day 40,000 Americans miss school or work due to asthma.

Talk to a Trusted Adult. What this icon indicates: A suggestion that a user talk to an adult they trust, such as a parent, caregiver, teacher, coach, or guidance counselor. Example: If you’re being bullied and are afraid to go to school, don’t try to handle the problem on your own.

Print

In all articles, the Print button on the left navigation bar will open a new window that allows you to either print the current section of the article you are viewing or to print the entire article. Images and the article citation will be printed.

You can also print the current section by going to your browser’s File menu and selecting the Print option. If you have difficulty printing, please check your printer setup.

Email

Click the email button on the left navigation bar to email an article to yourself or someone else. When you click this button, a new window containing a form will open. You must enter your name, your email address, and the recipient’s email address. If you wish to send the article to yourself, put your own email address in the field for the recipient’s email address.

You may also enter an optional greeting/message to the recipient and attach images from the article to your email if you wish. The article citation will also be included in the email in MLA (Modern Language Association) format, APA (American Psychological Association) format, or Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition) format.

Email messages, in rare cases, take up to an hour to be received after they are sent. If you have trouble receiving email sent from the site, please check your email junk mailbox or filter, or check the spelling of the email address to which you are sending.

Citation

Click the Cite button on the left navigation bar to use the NoodleTools citation generator. You can also see the article citation in MLA (Modern Language Association) format, APA (American Psychological Association) format, or Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition) format.

Glossary

You can access both a global site glossary or individual glossaries for each article on the site. The global glossary contains all key terms that appear on the site. To view the global glossary, click the Glossary link on the upper right of any page.

Each article also has a glossary that features key terms found in that article. To view the glossary for any article, click the Glossary link that appears in that article’s table of contents.

Both the global glossary and the article glossaries have been custom-created by Rosen editors to be age-appropriate and relevant to health and wellness issues.

Usage Statistics

You can view your account information and usage statistics from any page of the site. First, log into the site as a subscriber. Then click the link to the Librarian/Educator Resources in the footer of any page. From the Librarian/Educator Resources page, click the link to Usage Statistics in the left navigation bar. Then simply log in with your administrative username and password to access your account information and usage statistics.

Contact Us

If you need further site help, you can contact the Teen Health & Wellness support team in several ways.

Contact us via email.

Contact us toll-free by phone at (800) 237-9932.

Contact us by mail at:
Teen Health & Wellness
Rosen Publishing
29 East 21 Street
New York, NY 10010