Teens reaching teens: Use of peer outreach workers in family planning clinics

Encouraging teens to access family planning services remains a great challenge in public health efforts to reduce unintended pregnancy. The use of teens as outreach workers is an innovative strategy that remains underutilized and inadequately researched, even though there is agreement that some teens feel more comfortable talking to peers about their reproductive health concerns. An evaluation of 21 clinics, funded by California's Office of Family Planning to bring at-risk teens into clinical services, looked at the development, implementation and impact of peer outreach worker activities. In FY 2005-06, these clinics trained 400 teens as outreach workers, who reached nearly 20,000 of their peers through school presentations, street outreach, community events, health fairs, and other activities. In-depth interviews with clinic coordinators revealed that the structure of each peer outreach program varied widely, depending on clinic policies, community needs, and the age, experience and training of the teens. Most programs trained their peer outreach workers to provide administrative and counseling support in the clinic setting as well, thus assuring that teens would find a “familiar face” when they reached the clinic. This study highlights the steps required to develop a peer outreach program, with a specific emphasis on recruitment, training, compensation, and supervision. In addition, the evaluation examines the impact of peer outreach workers on designing successful events and activities, ensuring a teen-friendly clinic environment, improving providers' understanding of teen issues, and enrolling teens in clinical services. (A peer outreach worker or coordinator will discuss their experience, if logistics allow.)