Background: To address sexual and reproductive health (SRH) needs of young minority urban males, we developed and evaluated Project Connect Baltimore (Connect), which was adapted from a program with demonstrated effectiveness among young females. The objectives were to determine (1) the feasibility of Connect as adapted for young minority men, (2) whether the program increased SRH knowledge and resource sharing of youth-serving professionals (YSPs) working with young men, and (3) whether the program improved awareness and use of resources for young minority men in Baltimore City, an urban environment with high rates of sexually transmitted diseases.
Methods: Connect developed a clinic referral guide for male youth-friendly resources for SRH. The YSPs working with partners and organizations serving young minority men were trained to use Connect materials and pretraining, immediate, and 3-month posttraining surveys were conducted to evaluate program effects. A before-after evaluation study was conducted among young men attending five urban Connect clinics where sexually transmitted disease/human immunodeficiency virus rates are high, recruiting young men in repeated cross-sectional surveys from April 2014 to September 2017.
Results: Two hundred thirty-five YSPs were trained to use Connect materials, including a website, an article-based pocket guide, and were given information regarding SRH for young men. These professionals demonstrated increased knowledge about SRH for young men at immediate posttest (60.6% to 86.7%, P < 0.05), and reported more sharing of websites for SRH (23% to 62%, P < 0.05) from pretraining to 3-month posttraining. 169 young minority men were surveyed and reported increased awareness of Connect over 3 and a half years (4% to 11%, P = 0.015), although few young men reported using the website to visit clinics.
Conclusions: Project Connect Baltimore increased knowledge of SRH needs among youth-serving professionals and sharing of SRH resources by these professionals with young men. This program also demonstrated increases in awareness of SRH resources among young minority urban men.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6631304 | PMC |
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/OLQ.0000000000000977 | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
Evaluating H2BC9 as a potential diagnostic and prognostic biomarker in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.
Eur J Med Res
January 2025
Department of Radiation Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, 530021, Guangxi, China.
Background: Histone H2B is highly expressed in many types of cancers and is involved in cancer development. H2B clustered histone 9 (H2BC9), a member of the H2B family, plays critical roles in gene expression regulation, chromosome structure, DNA repair stability, and cell cycle regulation. However, the diagnostic and prognostic value of H2BC9 in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) remains unclear.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSubstance Use Classes Among YMSM in an HIV Digital Health Intervention Program: Implications for Acceptability, Engagement, and Health Outcomes.
AIDS Behav
January 2025
Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA.
Young men who have sex with men (YMSM) have high rates of substance use, which increases their risk for HIV. Digital Health Interventions (DHI) have the potential to address HIV risk overall and reduce harms in the context of substance use. However, there is limited research on how YMSM with different substance use patterns respond to HIV DHIs and how these programs impact participant outcomes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSelf-sampling and self-testing for HIV at a commercial and community-based test provider in the Netherlands: user preferences and usability.
BMC Health Serv Res
January 2025
Centre for Infectious Disease Control, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, P.O. Box 1, Bilthoven, 3720 BA, The Netherlands.
HIV self-sampling and -testing (HIVSS/ST) reduces testing barriers and potentially reaches populations who may not test otherwise. In the Netherlands, at-home HIV tests became commercially available around 2016, but data on user experiences are limited. This study aimed to explore characteristics of users and their experiences with HIVSS/ST.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAccess to HIV testing and factors associated among sexual minority women in a metropolitan region of the Brazilian Amazon.
Sci Rep
January 2025
Universidade Federal do Pará, Belém, 66075-110, Brazil.
In Brazil, health policies implemented over the last three decades have enabled rapid testing for HIV to be made available in primary health care services. However, although these policies are national, the implementation of actions is not uniform, as they depend on the local management of local health systems. In this context, the study identified the proportion of women from sexual minorities who had never tested for HIV and the factors associated with access, in a Metropolitan Region of the Brazilian Amazon.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHealthy lifestyle before and during pregnancy to prevent childhood obesity: study protocol for a parallel group randomised trial - the PRE-STORK trial.
BMJ Open
January 2025
Clinical and Translational Research, Steno Diabetes Center Copenhagen, Herlev, Denmark
Introduction: The global prevalence of people living with overweight has tripled since 1975 and more than 40% of Danish women enter pregnancy being overweight. With the increasing rates of obesity observed in children, adolescents and adults, there is an urgent need for preventive measures. Risk factors for childhood obesity include maternal overweight or obesity before conception and excessive weight gain during pregnancy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWant AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!