A Comparative Analysis of Sexual Reproductive Education Retention Among African American Teens Aged 13-18 and Their Caregivers in the Jackson MSA
Sierra Barnes1, Stori Jones1, Deja Abdul-Haqq2
1Mississippi INBRE Service Scholar, Jackson State University, Jackson, MS
2My Brother’s Keeper, Inc., Jackson, MS
The My Brother’s Keeper, Inc. ICAN Project, Future Ready, engages teens aged 13-18 and their respective caregivers in a multi-modal, interactive sexual and reproductive health intervention. Sexual and reproductive health priorities include safer sex education options and public health sexual health disparity awareness and reduction including disparities such as the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), sexually transmitted infections (STI), and unplanned pregnancies. In Mississippi, social and clinical trends associated with sexual and reproductive health practices are alarming. For instance, Mississippi ranks 3rd in teen pregnancy rates, 3rd in chlamydia rates, 1st in the US in HIV-related deaths, 6th in new HIV diagnoses per 100,000 people (CDC, 2009), while the capitol, Jackson, MS, has the 4th highest rate of HIV in the US among metropolitan cities. MBK’s Future Ready training program aims to decrease these disparities by increasing evidence-based knowledge about sexual and reproductive health among teens and their caregivers in Mississippi. The training requires teens and their caregivers participate separately, yet simultaneously, in a 4-hour educational session that includes pre- and post-tests. The data analyzed for the purpose of this study was collected between 2016-2018 to evaluate the varied increases in knowledge between the two Future Ready training groups: teens and their caregivers. Secondary quantitative data analysis method was exercised for the study by comparing means between the pre- and post-test. The results show that teens retained more information than their caregivers in the 4-hour time frame. Thus, the study hypothesis was confirmed. Because the range in knowledge gain between the two groups was not substantial, training modifications to increase knowledge retention for one group is not recommended. However, it has been suggested, for future research purposes, that the pre- and post-tests include demographic indicators to allow researchers to gauge specific gains within subgroups based on gender, age, zip code, etc.