TITLE:
Improving Parent-Child Communication around Reproductive Health for Latino Teen Pregnancy Prevention
AUTHORS:
Caroline Leeds, Kaia Gallagher, Tara Wass, Amber Leytem, Judith C. Shlay
KEYWORDS:
Sex Education, Program Evaluation, Parent-Child Communication
JOURNAL NAME:
Creative Education,
Vol.5 No.15,
August
28,
2014
ABSTRACT: As
parent-child communication has been shown to be an effective strategy for
impacting adolescent sexual activity, we evaluated the effect of implementing a
parent-child connectedness curriculum with parents and youth in a predominantly
Latino population with high rates of teen pregnancy. We modified two
evidence-based and promising parent education curricula into five two-hour
workshop sessions covering reproductive health, parenting style, adolescent
development, positive reinforcement, and active listening to promote emotional
support. We surveyed parents (N= 65)
prior to and after the program and three and six months post-programming to
determine how self-reported behaviors changed. Among the 65 parents enrolled,
most were female, 76.9%; Hispanic, 95.4%; married, 70.8%; and had less than a
high school education, 60.3%. Post-programming, parents reported significant and
sustained improvements in ability to communicate with their youth regarding
reproductive health, pppp p