Discovering Sexual Health Conversations Between Adolescents and Youth Development Professionals

Abstract

Youth development professionals (YDPs), working at community-based organizations are in a unique position to interact with the adolescents as they are neither parents/guardians nor teachers. The objectives of this study were to explore qualitatively what sexual health issues adolescents discuss with YDPs and to describe those issues using the framework of the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS) comprehensive sexuality education guidelines. YDPs reported conversations with adolescents that included topics related to the SIECUS key concepts of human development, relationships, personal skills, sexual behavior, and sexual health.

Do Nonclinical Community-Based Youth-Serving Professionals Talk With Young Men About Sexual and Reproductive Health and Intend to Refer Them for Care?

“…Findings about YSPs’ levels of SRH knowledge, perceived confidence, and past behaviors in this study are consistent with past work in this area that is more generally focused on engaging young people in SRH ( Fisher et al, 2010 , 2012 ; Gupta et al, 2015 ). The current study extends these past findings with its specific focus on young men as well as by examining referral behaviors including actual past referrals and future referral intentions.…”

“…Finally, examining contextual level influences at the organization level (e.g., concordance of YSP and supervisor responses) was not possible due to small sample sizes. Despite these limitations, this study contributes to the geographic diversity of an existing small body of literature on the capacity of YSPs to provide information, support, and referral for SRH care to young people, specifically, young men—a population that has historically not been included in these types of discussions or linkage to care ( Colarossi et al, 2014 ; Fisher et al, 2010 , 2012 ; Gupta et al, 2015 ).…”

“…Of studies that have examined YSPs’ capacity to talk about or refer young people more generally for SRH, variation in YSPs’ talking with youth about sex behavior and health has been observed ( Colarossi, Betancourt, Perez, Weidl, & Morales, 2014 ; Fisher et al, 2010 ; Gupta et al, 2015 ). While one exploratory semistructured interview study conducted among 21 youth development professionals highlighted that they discussed with youth a wide range of sexual health concerns, including STIs, pregnancy, and birth control ( Gupta et al, 2015 ), another study that was designed as a quasi-experimental evaluation of a capacity-building intervention with after-school programs in New York identified that staff reported before the intervention, on average, infrequent communication about SRH with the youth with whom they work ( Colarossi et al, 2014 ). One past study also described that YSPs did not have referrals in place for members related to their SRH (e.g., for contraception, HIV/AIDS or other STI care) ( Fisher et al, 2012 ).…”

A Qualitative Exploration of Community-Based Organization Programs, Resources, and Training to Promote Adolescent Sexual Health

“…As an example, Borden and colleagues (2002) stated “we can no longer afford to have youth development professionals who are forced to use only their best instincts and guesswork at what makes a difference in the lives of young people” (p. 7, quoted in Huebner et al, 2003). Other researchers have noted the importance of staff training and effective service to youth and in perceiving a higher degree of credibility in their professionalism (Center for School and Community Services, 2002; Fisher et al, 2010; Gutpta et al, 2015). Grossman (2002) found that the staff members who led activities with youth were center to high quality interventions.…”

“…YDPs directly contribute to the promotion of adolescent sexual health through programs and resources for youth and are well-positioned to help adolescents address issues related to sexual health and sexuality; specifically, YDPs provide young people with a trusted source for information on issues such as relationship and sexual behavior negotiation and sensitive issues often not covered in school such as abortion and sexual and gender identity issues (Fisher et al, 2010; Gupta et al, 2015). Thus, YDPs at CBOs play an important role in promoting youth sexual health, but we have little understanding of the context in which this occurs.…”