Engaging Vulnerable Adolescents in a Pregnancy Prevention Program: Perspectives of Prime Time Staff

Abstract

Introduction Evaluating interventions for reducing unintended adolescent pregnancy is necessary to ensure quality and efficacy. The purpose of this study was to examine core case management practices and processes for engaging high-risk girls in Prime Time, an intensive multi-component intervention from the perspectives of intervention program staff. Method Structured individual interviews were conducted with the entire Prime Time program staff (N=7) to assess successes and challenges in engaging adolescent girls at high risk for early pregnancy recruited from school and community clinics. Results Program staff described different capacities of adolescents to engage with the program (easy, middle and difficult connecting adolescents) and provided specific recommendations for working with different connectors. Discussion Findings from this study support the notion that preventive interventions with vulnerable groups of adolescents must pay careful attention to strategies for establishing trusting youth-adult relationships. The ability of staff (e.g., case managers, nurses) to engage with adolescents is a crucial step in improving health outcomes. The identified strategies are useful in helping adolescents build skills, motivations and supports needed for healthy behavior change.

Prime Time

“…Together with previous findings demonstrating reductions in sexual risk behaviors, relational aggression, and violence victimization among Prime Time participants, 12-14,26 results from this study suggest that involvement in a youth development intervention that combines individualized case management and youth leadership components holds great promise for preventing multiple risk behaviors among youth most vulnerable to poor health outcomes, including early pregnancy. Furthermore, long-term increases in family connectedness as well as the beliefs and self-efficacy necessary to set healthy sexual boundaries suggest that interventions such as Prime Time may foster social and intrapersonal attributes needed to sustain healthy behaviors.…”

“…Details regarding case managers’ backgrounds, training, and supervision are found elsewhere as are intervention components, which are summarized here. 18,26 …”

Prime Time: 18-Month Violence Outcomes of a Clinic-Linked Intervention

“…Case managers completed an initial 4-week training focused on intervention principles, practice and feedback in implementing core intervention strategies. Case managers received weekly clinical supervision throughout the intervention, detailed elsewhere (Tanner et al 2012). Each intervention component is summarized below and described more fully elsewhere (Sieving et al 2011b).…”

“…Interviews with intervention staff indicated that within this vulnerable group there was considerable variability in girls’ initial interest and abilities to engage with case managers. Thus, case managers used distinct strategies to establish trusting relationships with girls who were easier or more difficult to engage (Tanner et al 2012). …”

weCARE: A Social Media–Based Intervention Designed to Increase HIV Care Linkage, Retention, and Health Outcomes for Racially and Ethnically Diverse Young MSM

“…Building on our team’s ongoing expertise using social media, including Facebook, text messaging, and apps to promote HIV testing (Sun, et al, 2016; Sun, et al, 2015; Bachmann, et al, 2013; Rhodes, 2004; Rhodes, et al, 2011) as well as our research with youth and young adults with HIV (Tanner, et al, 2014; Tanner, et al, 2014; Tanner, et al, 2012; Tanner, 2008; Philbin, et al, 2014; Philbin, et al, 2014; Tanner, et al, 2014; Tanner, et al, 2013; Vissman, et al, 2011; Vissman, et al, 2013), we are in the development phase of a 4-year Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) funded project to design a social media intervention to improve care linkage and retention among underserved, underinsured, and hard-to-reach, racially and ethnically diverse young MSM with HIV. The purpose of this paper is to describe design and development of, weCare, our social media-based intervention to improve care linkage and retention and health outcomes among racially and ethnically diverse MSM, ages 13–34, living with HIV.…”