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In Adolescent Reproductive Health |
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OTHER LINKS
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In Adolescent Reproductive Health |
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OTHER LINKS
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Project Activities
Year 1
Project Staff
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In 2000, CARTA received
support from the Annie E. Casey Foundation to document the state of PFE among
clinic-based reproductive health providers and to build provider capacity for
PFE. The project was initiated as
part of a larger effort of the Foundation to promote stronger connections
between parents, families and their children around issues of sexuality and
reproductive health. While any
individual, group and/or professional agency can conduct PFE, the project was
designed to focus on the efforts of clinic-based reproductive health provider
agencies in order to respond to: ·
The
ongoing debate around parental rights/responsibility and teens’ access to
services and need for confidentiality; ·
The
misconception that reproductive health provider agencies are either unable to
or lack interest in connecting with parents and/or family members; ·
The
need for information about strategies provider agencies can implement to
connect with parents and adult family members; ·
The
growing need for improving adults’ capacity to address and communicate with
their adolescent children about sexuality and relationships; ·
Evidence
that teens want to talk with adult family members about sexuality issues, but
express concern about parents’ and adults’ limited ability and comfort with
sexuality issue.
The goal of the PFE project is to document and understand how
reproductive health providers can support adults as primary sexuality
educators. Objective
include: · Documenting the state of providers’ efforts to conduct PFE; · Reviewing the relevant literature describing the influence
parents and families have on the sexual behavior of adolescents; · Conducting site visits at several reproductive health agencies
in order gather an in-depth picture of the steps organizations have taken to
connect with parents and families; · Facilitating a dialogue about PFE and developing a framework
for PFE through roundtable discussions; · Conducting focus groups with service providers to expand our
documentation and to identify training and technical assistance needs; · Understanding how culture shapes parent/family & youth
interactions around gender roles, responsibilities and sexuality; |
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Year 1 – focused on initial documentation of PFE
program activities and the role of parents/families including:
·
Preparing
highlights of key findings from social science literature on parent/family
influences on teen sexual behavior; ·
Key
informant interviews with individuals from National non-profit and government
agencies encompassing ARH research, service delivery and advocacy to
understand comfort and possible directions for PFE; ·
Identification
and initial review of 19 clinic-based and/or clinic-linked PFE programs; ·
Completion
of a White Paper on PFE. Year 2 – Involved 2-½ day site visits at
four PFE programs identified in Year 1.
Site visits included: ·
Observations
of PFE activities and agency operations; ·
Interviews
with key program staff; ·
A review
of agency and program materials; ·
Interviews
with adult and youth participants; ·
Completion
of a report summarizing site visit findings – Case Studies Review; ·
Completion
of Lessons Learned documents on working with diverse populations and program
evaluation. Year 3 – Development
of a Theory of Change for PFE by: ·
Convening two roundtable
discussions with providers, researchers, policy experts and advocates; ·
Preparation of a theory of change
for PFE and action steps for the field; ·
Completion of a White paper on
framing a national agenda on PFE. Year 4 – Discussions with a diverse group of reproductive health
providers and exploration of the role of culture, family, teen sexuality and implications
for PFE, including: ·
Nine (9) focus groups in five
regions of the U.S. – Mid-Atlantic, South, Midwest, West and Southwest; ·
Literature review on the role of
culture in shaping parent/family influence on teen behavior among African-American
and Latino families; ·
Completion of a focus group report
and action steps for marketing PFE and addressing technical assistance
support needs of providers; ·
Completion of a Quick Guide for
practitioners on developing culturally appropriate PFE activities. |
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Barbara Sugland MPH,
ScD – Project Director
Kimberly Ross, MPH –
Senior Research Analyst Former Project Staff: Bernice Pelea, MPH - Senior Research Analyst III (2001 – June
2003) Jacquelyn León, MPH – Research Analyst (2000 –
June 2003) CARTA wishes to express its sincere appreciation to Ms. Pelea and
Ms. León for their tremendous effort and contributions to the PFE
project. Most of the initial work
completed under this project was the direct result of the work, insights and
dedication of these two staff members.
We wish them well in their professional endeavors and consider them
life long members of the CARTA team. |
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The PFE Project |
1800 N. Charles
St., Suite 902 |
Baltimore,
MD 21201 |
P: 410-625-6250 |
F: 410-625-1965 |
www.cartainc.org/pfeproject |
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