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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Tracy R. Nichols, PhD¹, Sara Birnel¹, Nicole Miller¹, Christel Hyden², and Amanda Birnbaum, PhD³. (1) Public Health, Weill Medical College of Cornell University, 411 East 69th Street, KB-201, New York, NY 10021, 212-746-1270, trdiaz@med.cornell.edu, (2) Department Health Education, Teachers College, Columbia University, 525 West 120th Street, New York, NY 10027, (3) Department of Health & Nutrition Sciences, Montclair State University, College Hall, Room305B, Montclair, NJ 07043

Background: The health promotion field has recently seen an expansion of programs designed for adolescent girls. These programs address a variety of health outcomes (i.e. HIV/AIDS, physical activity, diet and nutrition, drug use, osteoporosis, eating disorders) and many incorporate issues (i.e. body image and self-esteem) deemed salient to girls' development. However little is known about the effectiveness of current gender-specific approaches or the extent to which they are based on feminist perspectives and/or health behavior theory (HBT).

Purpose: To examine the current state of gender-specific programming for adolescent girls and assess the extent to which these programs are grounded in theories of girls' development and HBT.

Methods: A systematic review of literature detailing the development and evaluation of girls-only programming was conducted, followed by telephone interviews with key informants (i.e. program developers, and evaluators) identified from the review. Interviews were designed to understand informants' perspectives on the relevance of designing and implementing gender-specific programs and the connection between their program and both feminist ideals and HBT.

Results: Results are presented by health behavior/outcome and describe the targeted populations, theoretical perspectives, and methodological rigor of program evaluations. Comparisons of program prevalence by disease prevalence are also presented. Results from interviews identify implementation issues specific to conducting and evaluating girls-only programs.

Conclusion: Gender-based analyses are critical to understanding women's health behaviors and developing effective intervention strategies for women and girls. Applying this approach to the field of health promotion would help ensure developmental issues specific to women are included in program design.

Learning Objectives:

At the conclusion of the presentation participants will
• understand the relationship between girls-only programs and prevalence of behaviors and disorders within populations;
• examine the role theory plays in developing effective health interventions for girls;
• be familiar with gender-based analytic approaches and their role in effective program development and evaluation.

Keywords: Adolescent Health, Gender

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered