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Peggy B Smith, PhD, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Baylor College of Medicine, One Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX 77030, 713-873-3603, Peggys@bcm.tmc.edu
The paper’s purpose is to assist participants recognize health care needs of males and develop techniques to reduce their health risk behaviors. To do this we describe and compare preliminary health behavioral outcomes of a statewide male involvement and adolescent pregnancy prevention program between two cohorts of inner city males’ ages 13- 25 in two Texas cities. The projects, located in Houston and Austin had as their goal to encourage young fathers and young men at risk of becoming fathers to make positive decisions regarding reproductive behavior, education, employment, and parenting responsibilities. One program targeted school aged males 13-17 years and case managed 60 participants. The second program selected 58 fathers 18-25 years who were case managed in a community-based program. After presenting the project goal, the session participants will be able to recognize measured changes in program health outcomes that included the reduction of health risk behaviors including pregnancy prevention, contraceptive use, sexually transmitted diseases, substance use, and legal problems from baseline to one-year follow-up. Preliminary findings suggest, for males who participated in the school-based program, abstinence increased and there were no pregnancies reported during program participation. Among the older cohort, employment increased from intake to 12 months. Financial support for their children also increased during the program year. There was a small deterioration on some positive outcomes in both groups. At presentation conclusion, session participants can identify steps to determine whether or not programs for this group of males and fathers can result in behavioral risk reduction.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Adolescent Health, Male Reproductive Health
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.