 | The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
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| The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
Dorina Vereau, Milka Dinev, C Guarnizo, Fabiola Quesada, and A Osorio. Peru Office, Pathfinder International, 9 Galen Street, Watertown, MA 02472, 617-924-7200, ghainsworth@pathfind.org
The Ministry of Education (MOE) of Peru has established preventive programs aimed at in-school children and adolescents. Individual and group counseling sessions as well as recreational and cultural activities are being carried out under an “Open School” approach. These activities are aimed at the prevention of unplanned pregnancies, vandalism and violence, and substance abuse among other psychosocial problems.
Nevertheless, schools at the regional level are not well organized nor are teachers trained to carry out these activities. Therefore Pathfinder International, through local NGOs in Cusco, Ayacucho, Junin and Ucayali, has developed a school-based model for adolescents in 40 schools located in rural and peri-urban areas. Under this model, teachers are trained in adolescent counseling methodologies, sex education, youth mobilization and participation, and a training curriculum has been developed for parents.
After a year of implementation, there are some questions to answer: Has the educational community managed to organize itself in accordance with the MOE in order to address adolescents' needs? What is the level of adolescent participation? Does the model help to improve their self-esteem? Does the model strengthen family communication?
The following instruments will be used before and after the application of the model: questionnaire for adolescents, self-esteem inventory, social skills checklist, and complementary interviews of key people. Pre- and post-intervention data will be analyzed to see what impact the model has on the above questions. This presentation will discuss the results of the analysis.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Adolescent Health, School-Based Programs
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.