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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

William R. Finger¹, Hally Mahler¹, Doug Kirby², and Judy Senderowitz³. (1) FHI, PO Box 13950, Research Triangle Park, NC 27607, 919-544-7040 ext 468, bfinger@fhi.org, (2) ETR, 4 Carbonero Way, Scotts Valley, CA 95066, (3) Consultant, 575 Station Rd., Amherst, MA 10002

Increasingly, donors place an emphasis on ensuring that research findings are utilized, especially through global technical leadership. This case study focuses on the use of global findings on sex education curriculum for youth in developing countries. It shows how to take research to practice in international settings, in a way that cuts across a single culture-specific situation. The project had four key steps: 1) original, path-breaking research, which reviewed 83 evaluations of sex and HIV education programs implemented throughout the world and identified 17 characteristics of good curricula; 2) an expert consultation meeting with practitioners and researchers from developing countries that incorporated implementation experience into a discussion of the 17 characteristics of good curricula; 3) the publication of a sex education standards manual to provide guidance on how to use the 17 characteristics in practical ways, based on the discussions at the consultation meeting; and 4) dissemination of the standards document through the consultation group and related key practitioners to ensure that the guidance would be utilized. For example, UNICEF (one of the participants at the consultative meeting) plans to distribute the standards publication to all of its country offices now developing new curricula plans.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe a framework for the concept of research to practice.
• Identify steps to use for incorporating research-to-practice approaches into their work.

Keywords: Adolescent Health, Sexual Risk Behavior

Related Web page: www.fhi.org/en/Youth/YouthNet/Publications/YouthResearchWorkingPapers.htm (Paper No. 2)

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation