Teen Health Checklist CAMHC

The full name of CAMHC is Chinese Adolescent Multidimensional Health Checklist. Its core value is to break away from the single evaluation system of "not getting sick means being healthy". It uses 12 dynamic verification indicators that can be completed in 3 minutes to cover the three core dimensions of physiology, psychology, and social adaptation. There is no unified passing line. The reference thresholds of all indicators match the characteristics of teenagers of different ages, genders, and growth backgrounds. It is currently one of the most effective tools for grassroots youth health screening in China.

Last week, I met a 13-year-old girl at the youth health free clinic in the street. She is 165cm tall, weighs 48kg, has a vision of 5.0, and ranks third in the class in the 800-meter run. Her mother was full of pride when she pulled her over. She said that her child has rarely caught colds since she was a child, but she has been a little temperamental recently and has been rebellious in adolescence. As a result, the little girl secretly tugged on my sleeve while her mother was getting water, and said that she had been unable to fall asleep at two o'clock in the morning for more than a week. Her hands were shaking as soon as she entered the classroom, and all she could think about was "life is boring."

This case just hits the point of disagreement that was the most controversial when we revised CAMHC: what is the core of adolescent health? At that time, senior experts in disease control insisted on increasing the weight of physiological indicators to 70%, saying that "if there is no skin left, the hair will be attached." Without a good body, everything else is empty talk. ； The professor of the Department of Psychology refused to give in, saying that the psychological flexibility and social adaptability of adolescents are the core predictors of chronic disease incidence, career achievement, and life happiness in the next 30 years, accounting for at least 50%. In the end, we simply deleted all the weights - no indicator in CAMHC is more important. As long as a certain indicator triggers an early warning, it is worth spending time and paying attention to. There is no priority.

Many people have asked me, what is the difference between this list and the adolescent health checklist you can find online? To be honest, those on the Internet either copy adult standards, or are too unrealistic. For example, high school students are required to sleep 10 hours a day. Just ask any senior class teacher, and if you can find 10 that meet the standard in the entire grade, I will be considered a loser. Our indicators are based on 12,000 real samples of teenagers from 21 provinces and cities. For example, the sleep threshold for 12-14 years old is ≥8.5 hours, and 15-18 years old is ≥7.5 hours. We also add an assessment of sleep quality: even if you sleep for enough hours, as long as you fall asleep for more than 30 minutes and wake up more than twice in the middle of the night for a consecutive week, it is considered an early warning. Also, the reference value of BMI is not directly set at 18.5-23.9 for adults. It is calculated based on the age and gender percentiles of domestic teenagers. The BMI24 of a 14-year-old boy is exactly at the 75th percentile, which is completely normal. There is no need to force children to diet and lose weight.

Of course, many people oppose the promotion of such screening lists, saying that it is easy to label children. Last month, a junior high school principal complained to me, saying what if a child with emotional problems screened had his privacy leaked and was isolated by his classmates? This worry is really very realistic. We have made it clear from the beginning of CAMHC: it is not a diagnostic tool, nor is it an evaluation form used to classify children into grades, but it is just a "health warning bell" for self-examination. Just like if your blood pressure is high when measured at home, it does not mean that you are diagnosed with high blood pressure. It just reminds you that you should go to the hospital for further examination. The results are only known to you or your trusted parents and teachers, and are absolutely not allowed to be used as a basis for class selection or file records.

I have been doing youth health intervention for four years, and the most regrettable case I have ever seen is a boy who was a sophomore in high school, the main player of the school basketball team, and got all A's in every physical examination. His parents and teachers thought he was too sunny and cheerful, but he suddenly jumped off the building three months before the college entrance examination. Later, when I looked through his diary, I found out that he had been suffering from severe anxiety for almost two years. He had to take 3 melatonin tablets a day to fall asleep, and he would vomit when it came to exams. However, everyone only saw his "good health and excellent grades" side, and no one noticed that he was almost unable to hold on. If someone had taken a look at CAMHC earlier on him and seen the following two items: "Have you had recurring thoughts about being boring in the past month?" and "Have you had a complete loss of interest in things you liked before for more than a week?", maybe they could have given him a hand.

I carry dozens of CAMHC cards printed in the size of business cards in my bag all year round. When I meet parents or teachers, I put two in them. I don’t require them to rate their children according to this. I hope everyone can look at the child’s health from another perspective: not only fever, cough, myopia and weight gain are the problem, but also whether he will cry secretly, whether he has friends who can talk to him, and whether he can have two hours a week at his own discretion to idle and play with useless things. These are all part of health. After all, raising children is never about raising standard items, nor is it about raising neatly cut hedges. It is about raising a small sapling. It doesn’t matter if the branches are a little crooked, the roots are not rotten, and it will always grow well if it can get sunlight.