Practicing public health to identify important health topics for inner-city youth in Albany, New York

Inner-city youth are at risk for a number of negative health outcomes. It is essential to tailor health education and health promotion programs to the needs of specific youth communities. In order to identify important health topics for inner-city youth, focus groups and individual interviews were conducted among teens aged 13 to 18 years old who attend the Saturday Night Teen Program (STNP) at the Albany, New York, YMCA. STNP, which was developed in 2000 in response to a growing gang problem, offers teens a safe place to spend their Saturday nights. Over 1,000 teens participate in STNP each year. A total of 64 teens participated in focus groups and 150 teens participated in individual interviews. Participants were asked in focus groups and individual interviews to identify health topics that are important to them, as well as to their families and communities. Prompted questions were asked about the importance of a number of specific health topics, including HIV, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), pregnancy, drug and alcohol abuse, gang violence, domestic violence, relationship violence, smoking, physical exercise, nutrition/diet, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and poverty. Participants of the individual interviews were also asked about various health behaviors to identify negative health risk factors. The relationships between identified topics and reported risky health behaviors will be explored. Lessons learned from the focus groups and individual interviews and recommendations for future directions will be made.