Using CBPR to Develop and African American Chruch-based Paren-child Sex Communication Project

The Black church continues to be an influential institution in the African American community; yet, it has virtually been an untapped setting for HIV interventions, especially for adolescents. Taking It to the Pews-Youth Promise (TIPS-YP) is an African American church-based parent-child sex communication project, which was developed using a CBPR approach. In developing the TIPS-YP project, we facilitated church youth focus groups and surveys to guide the design of church-based project components. Four focus groups and surveys were conducted with church youth (N=36 participants; 64% female; average age=15). Survey findings indicated that 41% of youth participants had engaged in vaginal sex. Also, 33% had talked to their parent(s) about sex 7 or more times in the last 6 months. Focus group findings revealed that the majority of youth were not motivated to wait until they were much older to have sex; yet, most felt confident of their current ability to refuse sex. They were also confident they would use a condom if they chose to engage in sex. Their confidence was based on their fear of pregnancy and acquiring an STD. Additionally, youth participants commented that barriers to implementing TIPS-YP included the need to have church adults change their hypocritical attitudes about youth who are having sex, and about youth receiving STD/HIV screening. They suggested that more church-based youth sex education and STD/HIV screenings were needed (but have parents barred from these events). We will describe how these and other findings informed TIPS-YP intervention development using a CBPR approach.