Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #106071

Lisa D. Wagnes, MSN, Department of Health Education, Community Healthcare Network, 79 Madison Ave, 6th Floor, New York, NY 10016, (212) 366-4500 x 256, lwagnes@chnnyc.org

In an effort to promote positive health maintenance behaviors in diverse populations, Community Healthcare Network designed and implemented a unique family planning program throughout New York City. The program integrates education at community-based organizations with clinic-based education at eight urban health centers to provide prevention strategies tailored to teens, men, and women of African American, Latino, Caribbean and Asian descent. An array of topics includes menstruation, birth control, STD's, and cancer screening practices, among others. Despite the abundance of models available to support development of various educational programs, there is a lack of easily accessible best practices for general reproductive health education targeting urban American communities. Therefore, best practices that have been recognized as integral for success in other programs were applied to create a new model for health promotion and disease prevention in reproductive health. These include: fostering partnerships within communities, using ongoing series of workshops, ensuring cultural competence, involving males in the educational process, and tailoring materials and workshops to audiences. Planning efforts incorporated these ideals through extensive staff training, curriculum development, creative outreach strategies and design of a comprehensive educational booklet. Initial implementation included offering clinic-based education, marketing and provision of workshops to outside agencies, and preliminary evaluation of workshop preferences and outreach methods. Challenges presented themselves throughout the process in many forms, including dependence on outside agencies' interest, financial constraints, and funding requirements. The main lesson learned in implementing a new agency-wide and community-involved education program was that flexibility and creativity were the keys to success.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify steps taken to implement a new family planning education program.
• Describe challenges encountered during implementation in health centers and community as well as lessons learned.
• List successful and unsuccessful methods used in reaching out to community agencies.

Keywords: Family Planning, Health Education

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.