The health needs of inner city adolescents are escalating with major implications for health, social, education and family systems within the community. There have been few nursing related studies which links specific social, behavioral and psychological variables to health outcomes among this group. The primary purpose of this study is to investigate the relationships among stressful life events, hope and self-care ability among inner city adolescents. Orem's (1985, 1991) Self-Care Deficit Theory of Nursing will be the theoretical framework that will guide the study. Background data from this study will be used as a basis for further health intervention studies targeted to inner city adolescents in community settings. The study has major implications for nursing research, education and practice. It is especially significance as it relates to the development of multi-disciplinary health promotion programs designed to enhance self-care ability among inner city adolescents in school and community settings. The sample includes 200 inner city adolescents ages 14-18. One hundred subjects will be selected from a traditional public high school and 100 will be selected from a public alternative high school for youth with behavioral problems. Both schools are located in a large southeastern city. Data triangulation methods will be used to answer the research questions. Four instruments will be used for collecting the data: a) the Adolescent Life Change Events Questionnaire; b) the Miller Hope scale, c) Denyes Adolescent Self-Care Agency Instrument and d) a demographic and general questionnaire developed by the investigator. Descriptive statistics, analysis of variance, correlational coefficients and multiple regression will be used to determine if there are relationships or differences among subgroups of the adolescents.
