Holistic, trauma-informed adolescent pregnancy prevention and sexual health promotion for female youth experiencing homelessness: Initial outcomes of Wahine Talk
Section snippets
Introduction and background
Nearly half of female young adults experiencing homelessness in the United States (44%) aged 18–25 years are either currently pregnant or parenting (Dworsky, Morton, & Samuels, 2018). This staggering rate of pregnancy is the combined result of high-risk behaviors and being underserved by health care systems and school-based prevention. Compared to their stably housed peers, adolescents experiencing homelessness present with increased instances of engaging in high risk behavior, including
Setting and sample
Prior to beginning the study, the Institutional Review Board at the University of Hawai‘i reviewed and approved all procedures and all participants were enrolled via a modified informed consent process (allowing them to consent, themselves, to participation even if under 18 due to a legal ability to consent to all sexual health education and services being offered in the program and, frequently, estrangement from their parent/guardian). An interdisciplinary team delivered Wahine Talk at a youth
Results
Study results are organized below by component dosage, psychosocial and sexual health outcomes, and themes in youth and providers’ experiences of Wahine Talk’s structure, delivery, and facilitation of interpersonal relationships, as well as opportunities for enhancing the program when delivered in the future. Key results are summarized in Fig. 2.
Discussion
This study sought to explore the experiences of female youth experiencing homelessness receiving and program providers delivering Wahine (woman) Talk, a newly developed sexual health program for female youth experiencing homelessness, to assess program feasibility, acceptability, and appropriateness. We also sought to examine changes in youths’ social connectedness, self-esteem, readiness to use birth control, actual birth control use, and linkage to sexual health care after participation in
Conflict of interest statement
The authors have no conflicts to report.
Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the youth participants of Wahine Talk, the dedicated providers of this program, and our iTP3 colleagues at Texas A&M University as we collectively work to improve health equity for underserved communities. This opportunity was made possible in part by HHS Office of Adolescent Health (grant number AH-TP2-15-001). Contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Department of Health and Human
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