Online Program

337831
Let's Talk About Sex: Digital Storytelling for Puerto Rican Latina Youth


Tuesday, November 3, 2015 : 11:24 a.m. - 11:27 a.m.

Amy Hill, MA, StoryCenter (formerly the Center for Digital Storytelling), Berkeley, CA
Aline Gubrium, PhD, Department of Health Promotion and Policy, School of Public Health and Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA
Alice Fiddian-Green, MPH, School of Public Health and Health Sciences, Department of Health Promotion and Policy, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA
Allison Myers, MA, Center for Digital Storytelling, Berkeley, CA
The Center for Digital Storytelling (www.storycenter.org) surfaces authentic voices around the world through group process and participatory media creation. The recognition that personal narratives can play a key role in community health education and training, health service provision, and heath policy advocacy has grown dramatically over the past several years. Stories created in our public health workshops represent marginalized voices in complex, dignified, and dynamic ways. Storytellers explore their lived experience, craft and record narratives, and produce multimedia pieces. The process of making a two to four minute digital story in one of our workshops is personally transformative for the storyteller, who has the chance to reflect, learn, grow and connect with others in the group.

Public health efforts focused on Latina adolescent sexuality are commonly framed by the persistent syndemic of teen pregnancy/births and STIs, a myopic approach that perpetuates silences that contribute to health inequities and overlooks the clear need to incorporate and acknowledge experiences of trauma in adolescent sexual and reproductive health education and programming.

In this proposed film festival session, we will screen a selection of digital stories created through our 2013-14 National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded collaboration with the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, “Let’s Talk About Sex: Digital Storytelling for Puerto Rican Latina Youth,” a culturally centered, narrative-based approach for analyzing participants’ own depictions of sexual values and practices.

Learning Areas:

Advocacy for health and health education
Assessment of individual and community needs for health education
Communication and informatics
Diversity and culture
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Public health or related education

Learning Objectives:
Identify the value of supporting young women in sharing personal stories about sexuality and health, through participatory media. Discuss the relationship of trauma to adolescent pregnancy and parenting.

Keyword(s): Advocacy for health and health education

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I coordinated the Center for Digital Storytelling's subcontract from the University of Massachusetts, on this NIH funded project.
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.