A qualitative study of health educators' perspectives on educating African American adolescent females about the health risks on adolescent sex

Despite declining rates of sexual activity among American high school students, African American female adolescents continue to have higher rates of teen pregnancy, HIV infection, and other poor health outcomes related to sexual health, including the highest rates of infant mortality, low birth weight, and domestic violence victimization. At the global level, the overwhelming majority of HIV/AIDS cases are among African women. A similar trend exists in the United States as young heterosexual African American women account for more than half of all newly acquired HIV/AIDS cases. From a systemic perspective, there are layers that surround the crisis of reproductive health of African American girls, including the socio-political climate of the United States regarding issues of race, class, and gender; political influences on the delivery of accurate information about the health disparity and the effectiveness of prevention methods, and access to adequate educational and medical services; the influence of media and popular culture on the portrayal of African American women. Research also suggests there are some characteristics particular to family patterns of interaction and individual differences that put subgroups of young African American women at even higher risk. Prevention and educational efforts appear to be having an impact. Studies of trends show that African American teens are more likely to use condoms, and less likely to have sex under the influence of drugs or alcohol than their White and Latino counterparts. With an understanding of the backdrop of this health crisis, this project sought to contextualize the impact of health education through qualitative analysis of interviews with six New Jersey health educators to explore how strategies can be tailored to address this at-risk population. With use of a semi-structured interview co-constructed with curriculum developers at ANSWER (formerly the Network for Family Life Education), and qualitative analysis software to code transcripts, the researcher found that educators were relatively under informed about the health crisis facing African American adolescent females, and few reported using educational technology to target this population. There was a wide range of perspectives on defining at-risk youth. Implications for curriculum development, clinical intervention, and future research are discussed.