Experiencias, Prácticas y Necesidades de Autocuidado en Adolescentes: Un Estudio Cualitativo con Triangulación de Fuentes

Objective: To provide an in-depth description of adolescents’ experiences, practices, and self-care needs based on open-ended responses, triangulating them with contemporary scientific evidence on adolescent self-care across diverse contexts. Design: A descriptive qualitative study using inductive content analysis and peer verification. Participants: School-enrolled adolescents participated in the study. The sample consisted of 78 participants (M_age = 16.7, SD = 0.8, range = 15–18). Open and axial coding were conducted by two independent reviewers; discrepancies were resolved by consensus. Credibility was strengthened through analytic auditing, reflexive memos, and triangulation with the literature. Themes and subthemes are reported with anonymized examples, and implications for school- and community-based programs are discussed. Results: Six central themes emerged: everyday physical self-care (nutrition, sleep, hygiene, and physical activity); emotional regulation and coping; support networks and ecologies (family, peers, and school); structural barriers (economic constraints, distance from caregivers, social norms); technology and self-care (ambivalence between informational support and distraction); and personal projects and prevention (academic goals, demand for medical/dental monitoring).Conclusions: The adolescent self-care described is sustained by basic habits, family relationships, and proximal goals, yet is strained by social determinants and gaps in emotional and sexual education. Self-care curricula with a socio-emotional competence and menstrual/sexual health focus are recommended, along with school-based health access points for preventive monitoring and digitally co-created designs involving adolescents and their families.