Better Communication for Better Public Health: Perspectives From an Interdisciplinary Training Program.

Myriad factors determine the health of young people-biological, psychological, familial, contextual, environmental, and political, to name a few. Improving the health of adolescents means that leaders in health care and public health must have the requisite skills for translating research into priorities, practices, and policies that influence a wide array of health determinants. While adolescent health training programs may give emphasis to effective communication with adolescents as patients or as priority populations in health education/promotion efforts, are we adequately preparing our future leaders with the skill sets necessary for moving scientific evidence into practice, programs, and policies? Internship and fellowship programs may invest heavily in teaching skills for conducting research and health education/promotion, but they may not focus enough on how to translate scientific evidence into practice, programs, and policy.

Protective Factors, Risk Indicators, and Contraceptive Consistency Among College Women.

Objective: To explore risk and protective factors associated with consistent contraceptive use among emerging adult female college students and whether effects of risk indicators were moderated by protective factors.

Design: Secondary analysis of National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health Wave III data.

Setting: Data collected through in-home interviews in 2001 and 2002.

Prime Time: long-term sexual health outcomes of a clinic-linked intervention.

Context: Evidence about long-term effects of preventive health services for youth with complex needs is lacking. Prime Time, a youth development intervention, aims to reduce pregnancy risk among vulnerable adolescent females seeking clinic services.

Methods: In a randomized trial, 253 sexually active females aged 13-17 who were at high risk for pregnancy were assigned to the Prime Time intervention or usual clinic services.

Life experiences of instability and sexual risk behaviors among high-risk adolescent females.

Context: Understanding the interplay of multiple contexts of adolescents' sexual risk behaviors is essential to helping them avoid pregnancy and STDs. Although a body of research has identified multiple individual- and family-level variables associated with adolescents' sexual risk behaviors, relatively few studies have examined relationships between these behaviors and latent indicators of unstable, chaotic environments.

Methods: In 2007-2008, a sample of 241 sexually active adolescent females who were at high risk for pregnancy and STDs were recruited through two school-based clinics and two community clinics in Minneapolis and St.

Correlates of emotional distress in out-of-home youth.

Problem: Adolescents in out-of-home placement have a high prevalence of mental health distress, and their vulnerability to poor mental health outcomes continues during placement. Risk and protective factors may influence mental health outcomes; however, little is known about their relationship to mental health distress in this population.

Methods: Using data from a population-based survey conducted in schools, mental health distress, along with other risk and protective factors, was evaluated in young people who reported living in out-of-home placements (n = 5,516) and a comparison group (n = 5,500).

Prime time: sexual health outcomes at 24 months for a clinic-linked intervention to prevent pregnancy risk behaviors.

Importance: Preventing early pregnancy among vulnerable adolescents requires innovative and sustained approaches. Prime Time, a youth development intervention, aims to reduce pregnancy risk among adolescent girls seeking clinic services who are at high risk for pregnancy.

Objective: To evaluate sexual risk behaviors and related outcomes with a 24-month postbaseline survey, 6 months after the conclusion of the Prime Time intervention.

Adolescence: a foundation for future health.

Adolescence is a life phase in which the opportunities for health are great and future patterns of adult health are established. Health in adolescence is the result of interactions between prenatal and early childhood development and the specific biological and social-role changes that accompany puberty, shaped by social determinants and risk and protective factors that affect the uptake of health-related behaviours. The shape of adolescence is rapidly changing-the age of onset of puberty is decreasing and the age at which mature social roles are achieved is rising.

We have the evidence to enhance adolescent sexual and reproductive health--do we have the will?

The negative outcomes of early childbearing and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV/AIDS, threaten the health of adolescents more than any other age group. Ensuring the sexual and reproductive health of the more than 1.5 billion young people aged 10 to 25 around the world is central to global health.

Prime Time: 12-month sexual health outcomes of a clinic-based intervention to prevent pregnancy risk behaviors.

Purpose: Prime Time, a youth development intervention, aims to reduce pregnancy risk among adolescent girls seeking clinic service who are at high risk for pregnancy. This article examines sexual risk behaviors and hypothesized psychosocial mediators after 12 months of the Prime Time intervention.

Methods: This study was a randomized controlled trial with 253 girls aged 13-17 years meeting specified risk criteria.

Parental perspectives on sources of sex information for young people.

Purpose: To examine parental perspectives toward sources of sex information.

Methods: Interviews were conducted with 1605 parents.

Results: Most parents indicated that youth should receive information from their parents; however, in reality, believe they obtain most of their information from friends and the media.

A clinic-based, youth development approach to teen pregnancy prevention.

Objective: To provide a description of Prime Time, an intervention to reduce pregnancy risk behaviors among high-risk adolescent girls.

Methods: Prime Time, a clinic-based, multicomponent youth development intervention aims to reduce sexual risk behaviors, violence involvement, and school disconnection.

Results: We highlight key considerations in conceptualization, design, and methods for a Prime Time randomized trial.

Adolescent condom use consistency over time: global versus partner-specific measures.

Background: The conundrum of measuring condom use consistency, particularly with adolescents, has left researchers with a cacophony of strategies, thereby limiting comparability and interpretation.

Objective: The aim of this analysis was to compare and contrast two measures of condom use consistency, global versus partner specific, and their relationships with key covariates, using trajectory groups differentiated by stability of condom use consistency over three time points.

Method: Using self-report data from sexually active girls (aged 13-17 years) in a clinic-based intervention study aimed at lowering risk for early pregnancy, this analysis compared two measures of self-reported condom use consistency: (a) a global measure: overall condom use consistency in the past 6 months and (b) a partner-specific measure: condom use consistency with the most recent sex partner in the last 6 months.

A global perspective of adolescent sexual and reproductive health: context matters.

With over 1.5 billion young people in the world who are between the ages of 10 and 25, ensuring the sexual and reproductive health of adolescents is essential for global health. Extensive variations exist in the prevalence of adolescent sexual and reproductive health behaviors and outcomes around the world.

Reducing weapon-carrying among urban American Indian young people.

Purpose: To examine the likelihood of weapon-carrying among urban American Indian young people, given the presence of salient risk and protective factors.

Methods: The study used data from a confidential, self-report Urban Indian Youth Health Survey with 200 forced-choice items examining risk and protective factors and social, contextual, and demographic information. Between 1995 and 1998, 569 American Indian youths, aged 9-15 years, completed surveys administered in public schools and an after-school program.

Parental support for the human papillomavirus vaccine.

This study examined support for the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine among a representative sample of Minnesota parents after approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Condom provision and education in Minnesota public schools: a telephone survey of parents.

Background: Increasing correct and consistent condom use among sexually active adolescents continues to be a critical public health goal, with schools serving as key agents for achieving this goal through sexuality education and condom use provision. This research aims to describe the views of parents regarding school-based condom distribution and education programs, and examines how these views differ across demographic groups.

Methods: Parents of school-age children in Minnesota were surveyed in telephone interviews (N = 1605; 63% participation) regarding their beliefs about condom availability and education.

Protective factors in the lives of bisexual adolescents in North America.

Objectives: We compared protective factors among bisexual adolescents with those of heterosexual, mostly heterosexual, and gay or lesbian adolescents.

Methods: We analyzed 6 school-based surveys in Minnesota and British Columbia. Sexual orientation was measured by gender of sexual partners, attraction, or self-labeling.

Support for comprehensive sexuality education: perspectives from parents of school-age youth.

Purpose: Controversy about school-based sexuality education in public schools has continued over the past decade, despite mounting evidence that comprehensive sexuality education effectively promotes sexual health and that parents support these programs in public schools. The present study replicates and expands upon previous findings regarding public views on school-based sexuality education.

Methods: One thousand six hundred five parents of school-age children in Minnesota responded to telephone surveys in 2006-2007 (63% participation rate), including items regarding general sexuality education, 12 specific topics, the grade level at which each should be taught, and attitudes toward sexuality education.

Perceptions of health among immigrant Latino adolescents from Mexico.

Purpose: This ethnographic study describes the health-related perceptions of immigrant Latino adolescents from Mexico.

Method: Fourteen adolescents, purposively recruited from two non-health-based community settings, participated. Each was interviewed twice and completed a visual narrative project using disposable cameras.

Global perspectives on the sexual and reproductive health of adolescents: patterns, prevention, and potential.

Worldwide, societal shifts and behavioural patterns exacerbated by unique developmental vulnerabilities create a confluence of factors that place today's adolescents at heightened risks for poor health outcomes. Country-level data show that continued investment in effective prevention and treatment strategies is essential to protect adolescents' sexual and reproductive health. Whereas strategies must be tailored to the developmental needs of this age group and their social contexts, effective approaches are multifaceted.

Adolescent dual method use: relevant attitudes, normative beliefs and self-efficacy.

Purpose: To encourage dual contraceptive method use--protection from both STD and pregnancy--health behavior change efforts must target powerful risk and protective factors that are amenable to change. This study examines longitudinal relationships between adolescents' contraceptive-related cognitions and dual method use.

Methods: Data are from 1123 sexually active 7-11th-grade participants in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, Waves 1 and 2 (W1, W2).