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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Nancy L. VanDevanter, DrPH1, Cheryl Merzel, DrPH2, Peter Messeri, PhD3, Amy Bleakley, MPH4, Susan Middlestadt, PhD5, Rebecca Ledsky, MBA5, Alwyn Cohall, MD6, Renee Cohall, ACSW7, Janet S St. Lawrence, PhD8, and C. Kevin Malotte, DrPH9. (1) Center for Applied Public Health, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, 722 W. 168 St, New York, NY 10032, 212 305 1166, nlv1@columbia.edu, (2) Dept of Sociomedical Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, 722 W. 168 St., New York, NY 10032, (3) Joseph L. Mailman School of Public Health, Sociomedical Sciences Division, Columbia University, 600 West 168 St, New York, NY 10032, (4) Center for Applied Public Health, Mailman School of Public Health, Division of Sociomedical Sciences, Columbia Unviversity, 722 West 168th Street, 9th Floor, New York, NY 10032, (5) Center for Applied Behavioral and Evaluation Research, Academy for Educational Development, 1825 Connecticut Ave NW, Suite 800, Washington, DC 20009, (6) Harlem Health Promotion Center, Columbia University, 600 West 168th Street, Fourth Floor, New York, NY 10032, (7) Harlem Health Promotion Center, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, 600 West 168th Street, Fourth Floor, New York, NY 10032, (8) Behavioral Interventions Research Branch, Division of STD Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road NE, Mailstop E-44, Atlanta, GA 30333, (9) Health Science Department, California State University, Long Beach, 5500 Atherton Street, Suite 400, Long Beach, CA 90815
Background: Sexually active adolescents are at increased risk for acquiring sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), which are frequently asymptomatic. Many adolescents do not seek regular primary or reproductive health care and primary care providers do not routinely screen asymptomatic adolescents for STDs.
Methods: Youths aged 13-21 from an urban and a suburban community were recruited from community-based organizations and randomly assigned to a control session or a 3-session intervention to increase knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, intentions, and skills for regular health care seeking. Data were collected at baseline, immediate post intervention and at three months. Primary outcome measures were scheduling an appointment for a health check-up and "having gone for a health check-up in the past 3-months."
Results: Both females (N=205) and males (N=108) completed baseline surveys and were assigned to the intervention (N=184) or control (N=129) conditions. One or both post-intervention surveys were completed by 288 (92%) participants. Among females, participation in the intervention was associated with both increased appointments scheduled (O.R.=2.74, p<.01) and visits (O.R.=2.87, p<.01) for a health check-up. The intervention had no effect on males' health seeking behaviors.
Conclusions: Increasing regular health care seeking in adolescents provides an opportunity for preventive counseling, and may identify asymptomatic STDs. Group interventions to increase motivation and skills can be effective in increasing health care seeking in female adolescents. Further research is needed to develop interventions that increase adolescent male health care seeking.
Learning Objectives: Learning Objectives
Keywords: Adolescents, Interventions
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.