SCIENCE@home

Adapting a Sexual Health Intervention for Adolescents Exposed to Adversity: Feasibility Study

Terrinieka W. Powell,Bianca D. Smith,Naya Moser,Olivia Kachingwe,Quiana Lewis Wallace,A. Offiong,Andrea Hwang,Emily Davie,Ashleigh LoVette

Published 2025 in JMIR Formative Research

ABSTRACT

Background Although sexual exploration is normative during adolescence, sexual activities that are unprotected and occur under the influence of substances can pose significant risks to young people. Youth exposed to adversity are among the groups most vulnerable to sexual risk-taking in adolescence. Selective interventions that consider lived experiences and the local context may help reduce sexual risk-taking among this population. Objective This pilot study assessed the feasibility of participant recruitment and retention as well as participant engagement with an adapted version of Focus on Youth with Informed Parents and Children Together for Black youth exposed to household challenges. Methods Participants were recruited using school and community presentations, digital flyers, and referrals. A total of 121 youth from 3 sites in Baltimore, Maryland, were screened. Participants completed 3 assessments: baseline, posttest, and 3-month follow-up. Participant enrollment, session attendance, and assessment completion were used to determine feasibility and engagement. Sexual health knowledge, pregnancy intentions, partner communication, and sexual behaviors were explored as secondary outcomes. Results Funded by the National Institutes of Health, the data for this study were collected between January 2022 and April 2023. A total of 61 youth (aged 13-16 years) were recruited and randomized to either the intervention or the control condition (n=33 and n=28, respectively). In total, 87% (53/61) of the participants completed all 3 assessments. There was high engagement: 80% (48/61) of participants attended at least 3 sessions, and 75.2% (115/153) of after-session responses revealed they would recommend a session to a friend. Among the 18 participants who reported having any sex, all 18 (100%) abstained from alcohol use and 12 (67%) abstained from drug use before sex. The intervention group showed a significant increase in sexual health knowledge. No changes in sexual health behaviors or partner communication were observed. Conclusions Findings suggest that recruiting, retaining, and engaging participants in the adapted Focus on Youth with Informed Parents and Children Together intervention is feasible. Additional research is needed to determine the extent to which this intervention can mitigate sexual risk-taking among youth exposed to adversity. The findings will inform the redesign of our assessments to capture additional factors that may affect sexual health behaviors. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05033821; https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05033821

PUBLICATION RECORD

CITATION MAP

EXTRACTION MAP

CLAIMS

  • No claims are published for this paper.

CONCEPTS

  • No concepts are published for this paper.

REFERENCES

Showing 1-44 of 44 references · Page 1 of 1

CITED BY

  • No citing papers are available for this paper.

Showing 0-0 of 0 citing papers · Page 1 of 1