Does a teen initiated peer education intervention and community forum increase knowledge of consequences of teen pregnancy and initiate dialog for comprehensive sexual education?

The HSTA Teen to Teen Project was initiated by students in a 9-12 grade pipeline program with the goal of helping their peers and families understand the consequences of teen pregnancy and open a dialogue for addressing the 5^th highest teen pregnancy rate in the state.  Comprehensive sexual education is often not addressed in health classes due to the discomfort of educators and fear of parental back lash.  Student identified lack of knowledge and frustration with access to information led them to partner with the WV DHHR Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Initiative (APPI).   The students received training and used the state curriculum standards to develop a three tiered project that was delivered to approximately 200 seventh and eleventh grade students.  Tier 1 had students obtain school leadership support, assess the knowledge level of participants, identify gaps and prepare the educational interventions using peer presentations, pamphlets and multimedia events that addressed the lack of knowledge.  Tier 2 required students to implement the interventions which occurred over a three week period and then to measure their effectiveness with a post assessment.   In Tier 3 the students organized and hosted “Let’s Talk” community forums led by the APPI team for parents and interested adults. The forums were designed to provide interactive learning stations and talking points on sexual education topics.   Data and results from pre and post assessments and evaluations from the community forums will be presented and discussed.