Health management of Institutionalized Juvenile Delinquents: A Proposed Protocol

Juvenile delinquency is a critical problem that is becoming rampant in Egypt. Juvenile
delinquency, also known as "juvenile offending", is participation in illegal behavior
by minors who are younger than the statutory age of majority; any person between the ages of 7
to 18, and violates the law. Aim: This study aims to propose a protocol for health management of
Institutionalized Juvenile Delinquents Design: a descriptive analytic study was used to conduct
this study. Sample: A purposive sample of 318 juvenile delinquents (248 males, and 70 females)
their ages ranged from 15 to 18 years admitted since not less than 3 months and carrying out legal
punishing period. Setting: five Egyptian social care institutions El Marg ,El Agoza, Ain Shams,
Kobry El Kobba, and Dar El Aman Social Care Institution. Tools: three tools were used for data
collection. First tool: Self-administered Questionnaire form , Second tool: Physical examination
sheet from head to toe, Third tool: An observational checklist. Results: results of this study
indicated that, the majority of juvenile delinquents (78%) were males and 79.6% of them left their
schools before admission; 83.3% of them were smokers and 54%out of them were drug users,
they suffered many common health problems especially injuries and signs of somatic abuse like
51.3% wounds, 34.9% burns, and 50.6% fractures.; 42.8% had high antisocial behaviors. The
majority of the institutions environment (80%) was insufficient security, also 80% had incomplete
medical services Conclusion: the study concluded that the major factors related to those
institutionalized juvenile delinquents were socio-economic factors and they suffered many
physical, psychological and social health problems inside unsuitable rehabilitated institutions.
Recommendations: the study recommended that ,the proposed protocol for health management
of Institutionalized Juvenile Delinquents that’s evidence – based should be implemented and
evaluated in relation to prevent health problems of Juvenile Delinquents.