Matthew Berger, MA¹, Rebecca Merkh, MA¹, Linda Hock-Long, PhD¹, Casey Cook, MSS, MLSP², and Jacqui Ambrosini³. (1) Research Department, Family Planning Council, 260 South Broad Street, Suite 1000, Philadelphia, PA 19102, 215-985-2656, matthew@familyplanning.org, (2) Prevention Point Philadelphia, 333 W. Girard Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19123, (3) Youth Health Empowerment Project, 112 N. Broad Street, 9th Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19102

Through a two-year Office of Population Affairs (OPA) research grant, the Family Planning Council of Southeastern Pennsylvania (Council) has been funding and evaluating the provision of family planning services at two non-traditional Philadelphia service agencies: Prevention Point Philadelphia (PPP) and the Youth Health Empowerment Project (Y-HEP). PPP is a harm-reduction-oriented organization that operates Philadelphia’s only syringe exchange program. Y-HEP is a community-based outreach project and drop-in center for teens and young adults, many of whom are homeless and/or substance users.

Questions to be answered by this evaluation include: 1) why do clients choose to use or not to use services, 2) do clients use services preventively (e.g. contraception) or reactively (e.g. disease testing), and 3) how do patterns of service use at these sites differ from those at traditional family planning clinical settings.

A baseline survey measuring personal characteristics, sexual behavior and knowledge, substance use, and social environment was completed by 276 PPP and Y-HEP clients prior to family planning service establishment. A follow-up survey—the baseline plus an additional section assessing service use, reasons for using or not using services, and satisfaction with services—is currently being administered to a targeted 300 clients. These surveys characterize self-identified service users and non-users. Medical charts from both sites and aggregate service use data from traditional Council-funded clinics are being reviewed to determine which services are being used at these two sites and how this compares to patterns at traditional sites.

Analyses from surveys, chart reviews, and service pattern comparisons will be presented.

Learning Objectives: Participants at this session will be able to

• identify the attitudinal, behavioral and social predictors of family planning service use/non-use by marginalized populations;
• discuss factors which differentiate between members of these populations choosing episodic problem-related “reactive” care and/or preventive services and
• delineate differences in characteristics of clients receiving reproductive health care in traditional vs. non-traditional settings.

Keywords: Reproductive Health Research, Substance Abuse

Related Web page: www.familyplanning.org

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: Prevention Point Philadelphia Youth Health Empowerment Project
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.