Adolescent Sexual Health - PRC Creates Products to Highlight Barriers & Needs
The Healthy Youth Development – Prevention Research Center (HYD-PRC) has deep expertise and history supporting the sexual and reproductive health needs of adolescents and youth-serving professionals. Annually the HYD-PRC produces two innovative, community-engaged core products: the Adolescent Sexual Health Report and the Adolescent Health Summer Institute.
The annual Adolescent Sexual Health Report (ASHR), led by Jill Farris, HYD-PRC Director of Adolescent Sexual Health Training & Education, is unique: it draws data from multiple sources to create a comprehensive picture of adolescent sexual health in Minnesota. With both statewide and county-specific data for each of Minnesota’s 87 counties, the ASHR has become the go-to resource for educators, practitioners, and advocates in the field of adolescent sexual health.
Farris and colleagues from the Minnesota Departments of Health, Education, and Human Services amplify the impact of this report by teaming up regularly to share sexual health data and analysis through in-person workshops (one in the Twin Cities metro with a statewide focus, one in Bemidji focused on northern Minnesota), webinars, and a customizable, interactive data visualization platform. “What’s New in 2023?: The State of Adolescent Sexual Health in Minnesota? Webinar” reached more than 300 community members throughout Minnesota and the Upper Midwest.
One big takeaway from the 2023 ASHR was that the pregnancy rate increased for the first time in more than a decade, likely due to decreased access to contraception and medical care during the pandemic. “We are only just beginning to understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the health of youth,” said Farris.
“STIs decreased, but so did access to testing and treatment. The pregnancy rate increased, which may be due to reduced access to condoms and contraception during the pandemic. As we move forward post-pandemic, clinicians and educators must continue to utilize innovative strategies to meet the sexual health needs of youth.”
This year’s annual Adolescent Health Summer Institute essentially translated the ASHR into action. To provide this training to adolescent health professionals for the last 25 years, Farris and HYD-PRC colleagues Renee Sieving and Jenna Baumgartner coordinate with a multidisciplinary group of partners from UMN Schools of Nursing, Public Health, and Medicine, along with partners from Minnesota Department of Health, St. Paul Ramsey County Public Health, and Hennepin Healthcare.
This year’s institute invited participants to challenge what they knew and disrupt the status quo – a timely topic for the field of adolescent sexual health. Understanding that people are dealing with the fallout of a global pandemic, changing political landscapes, and evolving access (or lack of access) to reproductive and sexual health care, the AHSI planning team crafted their training using data from the ASHR and experts such as Justine Ang Fonte, Nicole Chaisson, Kristen Mark, and Senator Erin Maye Quade. Using an intersectional lens, the team helped participants examine the current climate of adolescent sexual health, provided opportunities and examples to advocate for change, and acknowledged the challenges adolescents and those working in adolescent sexual and reproductive health face.
Farris noted that participants at the ASHR events and the AHSI left energized and motivated to take action to promote sexual health for all young people.
“Our goal at the PRC is to provide interactive, skill-building health education and training to increase youth-serving professionals’ and organizations’ capacity. Having two powerful dissemination tools that we can share will not only help youth-serving professionals, but it will trickle down and help to better serve adolescents themselves,” said Farris.