198750 Building bridges over troubled waters: A community-academic partnership model to assess abstinence education among African American youth

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Tabia K. Henry Akintobi, PhD, MPH , Community Health and Preventive Medicine, Morehouse School of Medicine Prevention Research Center, Atlanta, GA
Jennie C. Trotter, MEd , Wholistic Stress Control Institute, Incorporated, Atlanta, GA
Donoria Evans, MPH , Community Health and Preventive Medicine, Morehouse School of Medicine Prevention Research Center, Atlanta, GA
Tarita Johnson, MSW , Wholistic Stress Control Institute, Incorporated, Atlanta, GA
Tandeca King, MAT , Community Health and Preventive Medicine, Morehouse School of Medicine Prevention Research Center, Atlanta, GA
Nastassia Laster, MPH , Community Health and Preventive Medicine, Morehouse School of Medicine Prevention Research Center, Atlanta, GA
Ayaba Logan, MPH , Community Health and Preventive Medicine, Morehouse School of Medicine Prevention Research Center, Atlanta, GA
African American youth ages 13-18 are more likely to initiate sexual activity and engage in behaviors that increase their risks for pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. The Wholistic Stress Control Institute, Incorporated (WSCI) and The Morehouse School of Medicine Prevention Research Center (MSM-PRC) initiated a community-academic partnership to assess the 2 HYPE Abstinence Education Club (2 HYPE “A” Club) for African American youth ages 12-18 in Metropolitan Atlanta. This presentation will describe partnership dynamics, methods, and outcomes of a collaboration established to assess an abstinence education program.

Assessment of 2 HYPE “A” Club included administration of pre- and post-tests, youth focus groups, and on-going consensus building regarding strategies to reach youth and, in turn, achieve objectives.

Among 275 predominantly African-American (88.1%) youth participants between 2007 and 2008, there was a significant increase (17.9%) in the proportion who agreed that abstinence can be initiated after sexually activity (p<.05, x2=15.338, df=4). Lessons on goal setting, choosing a soul mate and being assertive were also cited as curriculum highlights. Overarching these results was a partnership between WSCI and MSM-PRC to systematically respond to evaluation data to identify challenges, action items, and solutions in documented protocols for survey administration, recruitment, and longitudinal follow-up.

WSCI's 25-year history and rapport with minority youth, coupled with MSM-PRC's participatory evaluation approach has added both programmatic and evidence-based value to intervention efforts. Collaborative decision-making and communication have been central to this partnership model and represent a two-way learning dynamic characteristic of authentic community-based efforts to assess prevention initiatives.

Learning Objectives:
1. Describe characteristics of The 2 HYPE Abstinence Education Club academic-community assessment model 2. List early challenges, opportunities and lessons learned in The 2 HYPE Abstinence Education Club partnership process 3. Discuss evaluation outcomes of The 2 HYPE Abstinence Education Club

Keywords: Community-Based Public Health, Partnerships

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am Director of Evaluation at the Morehouse School of Medicine Prevention Research Center and work collaboratively with community-based organizations to evaluate their research, service and training activities. I hold a Master's of Public Health and a Doctorate of Philosophy in Public Health with a concentration in Community and Family Health. I evaluate The Atlanta Clinical and Translational Service Institute Community Engagement and Research Program designed, in part, to engage academicians and community is collaborative research. I provides evaluation or capacity building for programs addressing infrastructure development, health outcomes and service delivery in the areas of maternal and child health, substance abuse, mental health, HIV/AIDS and teen pregnancy. I led assessment of the Pfizer Foundation Southern HIV/AIDS Prevention Initiative and the Southeastern Collaborative Center of Excellence for the Elimination of Health Disparities. I am Chairperson for The National Prevention Research Center Evaluation Advisory Committee. REFERENCES FOR PREVIOUS/RELATED WORK 1) Henry Akintobi, T. & Yancey, E. (2008). Processes and outcomes of an academic/private/community-based partnership to improve evaluation capacities of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) prevention programs in the Southeastern United States. Evaluation 2008, Denver: CO. 2) Mayberry, R., Daniels, P., Henry Akintobi, T., Yancey, E., Berry, J., & Clark, N. (2007). Community-Based Organizations’ capacity to plan, implement, and evaluate success. Journal of Community Health, 33(5). 3) Berry, J., Henry Akintobi, T., Yancey, E., Daniels, P., Mayberry, R. & Clark, N. (2007). Partnership to build evaluation capacity and enhance programmatic success. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Prevention and Health Promotion Summit: Washington, D.C. 4) Henry Akintobi, T. (2006). Community-Campus Partnerships to Gauge Success of Public Health Interventions: Opportunities, Challenges and Preliminary Findings. Twenty-Second Annual McKnight and Tenth Annual Graduate School Conference: Tampa, Florida.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

See more of: Youth Involvement in CBPR Projects
See more of: Community-Based Public Health Caucus