FUN WITH FACEBOOK: THE IMPACT OF FOCUS GROUPS ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF AWARENESS CAMPAIGNS FOR ADOLESCENT HEALTH

poster abstractAbstract Efforts at improving adolescent health through mass communication are frequently undertaken by corporate design firms using traditional design development methods. While such methods may create work that is aesthetically significant, their effect on their intended audience is often overlooked in the process. Left unaddressed are youth media consumption, existing knowledge of health issues, and youth social patterns. By conducting focus groups with local youth, we wanted to learn about 1) attitudes and prior knowledge about the areas identified in Indiana’s Adolescent Health Plan, and 2) consumption of media and preferences in programming Results Knowledge of adolescent health issues Designers learned first-hand youth attitudes toward adolescent health issues and relied on their findings to develop storylines, dialog, and casting decisions. Media consumption While television remains the most popular method of media consumption, social networking sites play a large role in determining what media youth consume. The connection to peers and information sharing enabled by Facebook presented the most potential for effective media development. Design deliverables These data resulted in development of public service announcements (PSAs) and a health survival booklet. PSAs resembled instant communication or ‘chats’ on Facebook and addressed topics of obesity, stress, vehicular safety, and substance abuse. The PSAs provide a familiar visual reference for youth while leveraging its social networking function for emotional impact. The booklets balance practical information with content intended to entertain as well as inform the reader

Fun with Facebook: The Impact of Focus Groups on the Development of Awareness Campaigns for Adolescent Health (Poster)

Poster presentation regarding adolescent health and media consumption for the 2011 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine Conference

Perspectives of family medicine physicians on the importance of adolescent preventive care: a multivariate analysis

BACKGROUND: The study objective was to identify commonalities amongst family medicine physicians who endorse annual adolescent visits. METHODS: A nationally weighted representative on-line survey was used to explore pediatrician (N = 204) and family medicine physicians (N = 221) beliefs and behaviors surrounding adolescent wellness. Our primary outcome was endorsement that adolescents should receive annual preventive care visits. RESULTS: Pediatricians were significantly more likely (p < .01) to endorse annual well visits. Among family medicine physicians, bivariate comparisons were conducted between those who endorsed an annual visit (N = 164) compared to those who did not (N = 57) with significant predictors combined into two multivariate logistic regression models. Model 1 controlled for: patient race, proportion of 13-17 year olds in provider's practice, discussion beliefs scale and discussion behaviors with parents scale. Model 2 controlled for the same first three variables as well as discussion behaviors with adolescents scale. Model 1 showed for each discussion beliefs scale topic selected, family medicine physicians had 1.14 increased odds of endorsing annual visits (p < .001) and had 1.11 greater odds of endorsing annual visits with each one-point increase in discussion behaviors with parents scale (p = .51). Model 2 showed for each discussion beliefs scale topic selected, family medicine physicians had 1.15 increased odds of also endorsing the importance of annual visits (p < .001). CONCLUSIONS: Family medicine physicians that endorse annual visits are significantly more likely to affirm they hold strong beliefs about topics that should be discussed during the annual exam. They also act on these beliefs by talking to parents of teens about these topics. This group appears to focus on quality of care in thought and deed

Adolescent Relationship Violence: Help-Seeking and Help-Giving Behaviors among Peers

Young people tend to disclose relationship violence experiences to their peers, if they disclose at all, yet little is known about the nature and frequency of adolescent help-seeking and help-giving behaviors. Conducted within a sample of 1,312 young people from four New York City high schools, this is the first paper to ask adolescent help-givers about the various forms of help they provide and among the first to examine how ethnicity and nativity impact help-seeking behaviors. Relationship violence victims who had ever disclosed (61 %) were more likely to choose their friends for informal support. Ethnicity was predictive of adolescent disclosure outlets, whereas gender and nativity were not. Latinos were significantly less likely than non-Latinos to ever disclose to only friends, as compared to disclosing to at least one adult. The likelihood of a young person giving help to their friend in a violent relationship is associated with gender, ethnicity, and nativity, with males being significantly less likely than females to give all forms of help to their friends (talking to their friends about the violence, suggesting options, and taking action). Foreign-born adolescents are less likely to talk or suggest options to friends in violent relationships. This study also found that Latinos were significantly more likely than non-Latinos to report taking action with or on behalf of a friend in a violent relationship. This research shows that adolescents often rely on each other to address relationship violence, underlining the importance of adolescents’ receipt of training and education on how to support their friends, including when to seek help from more formal services. To further understand the valuable role played by adolescent peers of victims, future research should explore both which forms of help are perceived by the victim to be most helpful and which are associated with more positive outcomes

Comparability of contraceptive prevalence etimates for women from the 2002 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System.

OBJECTIVE: This article assesses the comparability of contraceptive use estimates for adult women obtained from the 2002 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), using the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) as a benchmark. The 2002 BRFSS uses data collection methods that are considerably different from the NSFG. METHOD: We compared demographic differences and national estimates of current contraceptive methods being used and reasons for nonuse. Variables were recoded in the BRFSS and NSFG systems to make the two samples comparable. RESULTS: Women in the NSFG and BRFSS were similar in age and race/ethnicity. Compared with the NSFG, the BRFSS sample was more educated and of higher income, less likely to be cohabiting, and more likely to be married. After adjusting for differences in the coding of hysterectomy, many BRFSS estimates for current contraceptive use were statistically similar to those from the NSFG. Small but statistically significant differences were found for vasectomy (7.7% and 6.3%), the pill (21.9% and 19.6%), rhythm (1.5% and 1.0%), the diaphragm (0.5% and 0.2%), and withdrawal (0.3% and 2.7%) for the BRFSS and NSFG, respectively. Major reasons for nonuse were similar: seeking pregnancy and currently pregnant. The percentage of women who were not currently sexually active was higher in the BRFSS (16.0%) compared with the NSFG (12.5%). CONCLUSIONS: The BRFSS is a useful source of population-based data on contraceptive use for reproductive health program planning; however, planners should be cognizant that lower-income women are not fully represented in telephone surveys