Teen pregnancy prevention programs for American Indian and Alaska Native youth
- Collection:
- Health Policy and Services Research
- Series Title(s):
- OPA brief
- Contributor(s):
- United States. Department of Health and Human Services, issuing body. United States. Public Health Service. Office of Population Affairs, issuing body.
- Publication:
- [Washington, D.C.] : Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Population Affairs, January 2020
- Language(s):
- English
- Format:
- Text
- Subject(s):
- Alaskan Natives Indians, North American Pregnancy in Adolescence -- prevention & control United States
- Genre(s):
- Technical Report
- Abstract:
- The health and well-being of American Indian (AI) and Alaska Native (AN) adolescents remains a national priority, as AI/AN youth face disproportionate risk for many adverse health and social outcomes. Teen birth rates among AI/AN populations were the highest among all ethnic groups in 2017, with 32.9 births per every 1,000 AI/AN adolescent females ages 15 to 19. The teen birth rate among AI/AN adolescent females was two and a half times the rate for white adolescent females. AI/AN youth also face higher risk for rates of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and infections (STIs). In 2015, AI/AN youth ages 15 to 24 had the second highest rates of chlamydia and gonorrhea among racial-ethnic groups in the United States, with both surpassing the national average. Despite declining rates of teen births and progress toward preventing, diagnosing, and treating STIs, risky sexual behavior continues to have public health implications for AI/AN youth. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, through the Office of Adolescent Health's (now Office of Population Affairs) teen pregnancy prevention (TPP) Program and the Family and Youth Services Bureau's Tribal Personal Responsibility Education Program, is working to identify effective programs that address these issues by funding the development and evaluation of targeted TPP programming for AI/AN youth. To identify programs shown to improve these outcomes, the Office of Population Affairs contracted with Mathematica to conduct a systematic review of evidence on TPP programs for AI/AN youth. First, we assessed the quality or rigor of the research. Then we examined each program's effectiveness on behavioral outcomes, such as sexual activity and contraceptive use, as well as factors that might be predictive of future sexual risk behavior, such as knowledge about the risks of HIV/STIs, self-efficacy to prevent risky behavior, and intentions to engage in risky behavior. In this brief, we highlight the programs that research has shown to be effective on any of these outcomes (see box on systematic review methods), identify elements these programs have in common, and discuss some promising programs that have some suggestive evidence of effectiveness but need rigorous research to confirm these results. We identified 15 studies that examined program effectiveness for AI/AN youth. Among those, only four studies of three programs met evidence standards (two studies assessed the same program). None of the programs reduced sexual risk behaviors of AI/AN youth. However, these three programs had favorable effects on predictors of future risky sexual behavior: Circle of Life (COL), Multimedia Circle of Life (mCOL), and Respecting the Circle of Life (RCL). Of note, mCOL is an adaptation of COL that was modified for a younger population (preteens) and translated to an online, multimedia format. We also identified three promising programs worthy of further study that showed favorable effects on either behavioral outcomes or knowledge and attitudes about sex but need additional research to confirm the findings: Discovery Dating, Native Students Together Against Negative Decisions (Native STAND), and Unzip the Truth.
- Copyright:
- The National Library of Medicine believes this item to be in the public domain. (More information)
- Extent:
- 1 online resource (1 PDF file (5 pages))
- Illustrations:
- Illustrations
- NLM Unique ID:
- 101777803 (See catalog record)
- Permanent Link:
- http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/101777803