Oral

This session focuses on the urgent need to reach young men with sexual and reproductive health information and services and promising approaches for reaching various groups of young men. One panelist describes a successful outreach and education program for African American and Latino men in New York. A second panelist describes a community-based program to reach young African American men in Baltimore. A third paper discusses the effectiveness of a male peer-to-peer health education program facilitated by college-age male outreach workers in one country in Oregon. Another panelist discusses use of a version of the “Wise Guys” reproductive health education program for young men in program that was adapted for use in underserved communities in rural South Dakota. A final paper in the session seeks to address the misconception that all FBOs promote abstinence-only programs for young people. The paper describes an FBO-run program to attract and engage males in St. Louis, using the Wise Guys and Sex Can Wait curricula.

Session Objectives: • Recognize young men’s need for sexual and reproductive health (SRH). services and the inadequacy of service infrastructure available to provide it. • Analyze the barriers experienced by young men in taking an equal role in SRH. • Examine models of engaging young men in SRH programs and the challenges of implementation. • Discuss the positive sexual health outcomes associated with male engagement in SRH educational programs. • Adapt proven curriculum to meet special needs and insure cultural sensitivity. • Describe the program of an FBO that has provided reproductive health education to men that promotes the importance of providing factual and relevant information to young males in an interesting and engaging way. • Discuss the policy and program implications of programs to reach young men.

CE Credits: CME, Health Education (CHES), Nursing