Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #117004

Elisabeth Gleckler, MPH, DrPH, College of Education, Human Performance and Health Promotion, University of New Orleans, 109 Human Performance Building, UNO Lakefront Campus, New Orleans, LA 70148, 504-280-6361, egleckle@uno.edu, Francoise Grossman-Kendall, MA, MPH, Family Planning, Louisiana State Office of Public Health, 250 Loyola Ave, 5th floor, New Orleans, LA 70112, Lakeisha Urquhart, Job Corps, 3308 Tulane Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70119, and Sydney Lewis, Community Programs, St. Thomas Health Center, 1020 St. Andrew Street, New Orleans, LA 70130.

Rarely are young men provided in-depth education about reproductive health and wellness. A nationally recognized program targeting young men for improved understanding of sexuality and reproductive responsibility, Wise Guys, was implemented in New Orleans. Originally developed in North Carolina, the question was, could it be implemented in other locales successfully? Careful monitoring of the urban New Orleans project produced information about the needs of young men, the value of learning through activities and in peer groups.

Two populations were involved in the Wise Guys program in New Orleans: Job Corps participants and a health class in a public high school. The first group, Job Corps has had six groups over one and a half years. The high school group has had two groups over a six month period. Each group had a pretest, posttest, focus group and six month follow-up. Facilitators, who led the groups, were carefully chosen for their “street authenticity” and ability to engage the young men.

The acceptance of Wise Guys was high, even in the in the older Job Corps group. Young men offered suggestions to improve the program through focus groups. Overall, there was improvement on knowledge and attitudes found in the pre/posttest and six month comparisons. There were several attitudes that were difficult to change which will be discussed. A brief summary of the lessons to be learned concludes the presentation.

The Wise Guys program is geographically robust. Evaluations are important investments to improve and maintain the quality of the program.

Learning Objectives: