The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #49504

Allison Rose, MHS¹, Greg White, MSW², Helen P. Koo, PhD³, Renee Jenkins, MD⁴, Karen M. Anderson, PhD², Barbara K. Wingrove, MPH⁵, Isabel Ricardo, PhD⁶, and Brinda Bhaskar, MS³. (1) School of Nursing, Johns Hopkins University, 525 N Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD 21224, 410-576-6185, arose6@son.jhmi.edu, (2) College of Medicine, Howard University, 2018 Georgia Avenue, NW 2nd Floor, Washington, DC, DC 20060, (3) Health, Social and Economics Research, RTI International, 3040 Cornwallis Rd., Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, (4) Department of Pediatrics, Howard University Hospital, 2041 Georgia Avenue, NW 6th Floor, Room 6-B-04, Washington, D.C., DC 20060, (5) NICHD, NIH, 6100 Executive Blvd, Room 7B07, Rockville, MD 20852, (6) George Washington University Medical Center, 2175 K Street, Washington, DC, DC 20037

Given the considerable amount of research demonstrating the influence of parents on the sexual and reproductive behaviors of adolescents, it is reasonable to assume that incorporating an intervention directed at parents would greatly enhance the effectiveness of adolescent pregnancy prevention programs. However, research in this area is minimal. While a number of adolescent pregnancy prevention programs have involved the parents of youth, very few have been rigorously evaluated with published results. Furthermore, only a limited number of programs have attempted to evaluate the program’s effect on the sexual behavior of adolescents. This paper describes the initial findings of a school-based adolescent pregnancy prevention program given to parents and other caregivers of 5th grade students in 8 Washington D.C. elementary schools, which were randomly assigned to the intervention condition (8 other schools were randomly assigned to be controls). The total intervention consisted primarily of 11 sessions for children and 7 sessions for parents; both interventions were developed to address key risk factors associated with early sexual initiation. To evaluate the intervention, surveys were conducted among students and parents before and after the intervention at all 16 schools. The purpose of this paper is to describe (1) the baseline characteristics of the study population; (2) the results of the parental recruitment process including rates of parental participation in the intervention program and evaluation surveys; and (3) the role of parental and familial factors, such as parent-child communication and parental monitoring behaviors, on adolescent risk taking behaviors including initiation of sexual activities.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, participants in this session will be able to

• Understand the importance of including parents and other caregivers in adolescent pregnancy prevention programs and other efforts to prevent adolescent risk taking behaviors.
• Recognize some of the challenges and successes in promoting parental participation in a school- based adolescent pregnancy prevention program.
• Identify parental and familial factors associated with adolescent risk taking behaviors including the initiation of sexual activities.

Keywords: Teen Pregnancy Prevention, School-Based Programs

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.