E2.01 - Oral: Pivots to Productivity: Lessons Learned from an Adolescent Sexual & Reproductive Health Program

Brief Abstract Summary: Public health and health education strategies are constantly changing. To ensure health program productivity, organizations must adapt their approaches to reach project success. Using the Connect (UTC), is a game-based curriculum to help youth develop health-focused skills through engaging, interactive games and to ultimately reduce adolescent pregnancy. UTC is currently in phase two of a randomized control trial. During the pilot and second phase of the study, we identified implementation challenges and created improvements to carry out to ensure reach and evaluation goals were met in the project. Overall, strategic programmatic pivots can strengthen programs, build resilience, increase efficiency and engagement, pave sustainability plans, as well as improve outcomes.

Detailed abstract description:

Background: Public health and health education programs are constantly changing their methods due to policies; school and organizational procedures, and community norms. To ensure health program productivity, organizations must adapt their strategies to reach project success.
Specifically, community and school based interventions are facing unique challenges when implementing health and sexuality education programs among 10-15-year-old youth. Challenges include policy restricting curriculum delivery, policy reducing evaluation efforts among grantees, and hesitation among potential partner organizations. The purpose of this abstract is to describe the barriers identified during an adolescent pregnancy prevention study and present the positive impacts programmatic pivots can provide project productivity.
The three pivots discussed include: 1) focus of the research question, 2) study site type, and 3) geographic boundaries. First, this study changed the primary research question from behavior focus to behavior intention which based on the literature is more age appropriate for middle school youth. Second, the setting scope broadened from school sites only to include community based organizations. Lasty, the research team opted to branch outside of Texas to recruit schools and community based organizations in the United States. This abstract explores the concept of "pivoting to productivity," emphasizing the importance of flexibility in health programmatic efforts, system processes, recruitment efforts, and community engagement.

Methods: Using the Connect (UTC), is a game-based curriculum to help youth develop health-focused skills through engaging, interactive games and to ultimately reduce adolescent pregnancy. UTC was piloted during 2022/2023 in rural Texas community organizations serving middle school youth (n=50) and entered phase 2 of implementation in summer of 2023 to present serving approximately 900 youth. During the pilot and second phase of the study, we identified implementation challenges and created improvements to put in place to ensure reach and evaluation goals were met within the project timeline.

Conclusion: Organizations can more efficiently navigate hurdles and achieve goals by identifying areas of improvements in health programming, applying productive pivots, and embracing a proactive approach to challenges. ​​This session discusses the strategies used to overcome complex obstacles facing adolescent sexual/reproductive health programmatic efforts in the United States to ensure youth have access to the vital content needed to make informed health choices.