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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Naomi Kulp Mirowitz, MPH, Emily Bezayiff, MA, and Nancy L. Atkinson, PhD. Department of Public and Community Health, Public Health Informatics Research Laboratory, University of Maryland, College Park, Suite 2387 Valley Drive, College Park, MD 20742, 301-405-2084, nkmirowitz@hotmail.com

The University of Maryland Public Health Informatics Research Laboratory and the Maryland Department of Mental Health and Hygiene have collaborated to research reproductive health education in elementary and middle schools in Maryland. The Smart Choices Project is a needs assessment to evaluate the need for changing or enhancing reproductive health curricula materials and instruction. Other goals for the Project are to investigate the timing of reproductive health education in the classroom and the barriers that educators face when providing instruction to youth maturing at younger ages; and examine the extent to which teachers are motivated, feel uncomfortable, or ill prepared to teach reproductive health to adolescents. The Project involves interviewing state administrators, health education district coordinators, principals, and teachers by questionnaire. During recruitment, several barriers have been encountered. These barriers include: limited participation interest from school personnel, lack of reproductive health education leadership, timing of school system events such as statewide testing, and high teacher burden level. In addition, all school districts require local approval prior to conducting research with educators. Additional issues are the abstention of health education coordinators from answering questions about reproductive health because of topic sensitivity, and some districts are not permitted to participate in research due to pending lawsuits and policy regulation around reproductive health curriculum. This presentation will discuss barriers that have been encountered in executing the Project and conducting research within school systems. It will also address ways in which we have overcome some of these barriers in completing data collection.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe the needs and issues relevant to reproductive health education in the Maryland school systems.
• Recognize at least three barriers to conducting data collection with school systems and how to address these barriers.
• Articulate ways of how to strengthen conducting research within reproductive health education.

Keywords: Reproductive Health, School Health Educators

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No