FIT HARRT Plus: A Study of Participant Informed Text Messages to Promote Physical Activity in Adolescent and Young Adult African American Women

Abstract

project began in June 2012. The intervention involved screening each adolescent woman on initial entry to the juvenile detention center for the date of her last sexual encounter using a new emergency contraception screening form approved by medical administrators. Physician notification took place if the last reported sexual encounter occurred within five days prior to arrival. All eligible patients presented to the medical clinic for counseling the same day of admission or the following day for overnight admissions. When feasible, physicians offered and prescribed emergency contraception immediately. Medical staff and physicians documented screening, counseling, offering of EC and acceptance or refusal of EC in the patient’s medical record. We calculated a sample size of 42 in the pre and post-intervention groups to achieve 90% power, alpha 0.05. We performed statistical analysis using 2 x 2 contingency tables and Fisher’s exact test. Results: The population consisted of young women aged 11 e 17 years seen in the medical department at the juvenile detention center from November 2010 to July 2013. The pre-intervention group included charts reviewed prior to June 2012 (n1⁄4 49) and the post-intervention group included charts reviewed from June 2012 to July 2013 (n 1⁄4 104). Of those encounters, 14 and 27 adolescents, in the pre and post intervention groups respectively, were eligible to receive emergency contraception by reporting sexual activity within the five days prior to admission. With the addition of the emergency contraception screening form, the number of youth screened for EC eligibility increased significantly from 55% preintervention to 80% post-intervention (p < .05). The number of eligible young women offered EC also increased from 21% preintervention to 96% post-intervention (p < .05). While not statistically significant, the number of eligible young women taking EC likewise increased from 14% pre-intervention to 41% postintervention. The majority of post-intervention eligible patients declined EC for the following reasons: desired pregnancy, “If I am pregnant, then I am,” and “I don’t want to take it.” Conclusions: Applying a universal and standardized screening and counseling procedure results in increased EC awareness and utilization among detained young women. Timely access to EC may result in decreased unintended pregnancies among these especially high risk teens. Preventing teen pregnancies reduces abortions, miscarriages, teen parenting and its consequences. Sources of Support: None.