Evaluation of an Online Sexual Health Program among Adolescent Girls with Emotional and Behavioral Difficulties.

OBJECTIVES: Adolescent girls with emotional and behavioral difficulties (EBDs) have a heightened risk of negative sexual health, including HIV, other sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and unplanned pregnancy. Few evidence-based sexual health interventions are available for adolescent girls with EBDs. This study tested the feasibility, acceptability, and efficacy of a brief, online sexual health program called HEART (Health Education and Relationship Training). METHODS: Forty-seven participants (M-age = 15.79; SD = 1.71; 62% Black, 23% Hispanic) recruited from community-based organizations in the southeastern U.S. were compared to a non-equivalent comparison group who received an attention-matched intervention. RESULTS: Findings support the feasibility of participant recruitment and program administration in community-based settings. Participants completed HEART in 44 minutes and experienced few technological difficulties. HEART was highly acceptable: most participants liked, learned from, and were engaged with the program. Further, 92% would recommend HEART to a friend and 98% would use what they learned in the future. At posttest, intervention participants had significantly higher communication intentions, communication skills, STI/HIV knowledge, sexual self-efficacy, condom attitudes, and condom norms than the comparison group (ps < .003; effect size ds = .38-1.65). Significant improvement in condom intentions was observed when comparing pretest to posttest scores among intervention participants only, t(46) = -3.21, d = 0.47. CONCLUSIONS: Findings support the feasibility, acceptability, and efficacy of HEART among adolescent girls with EBDs in community-based settings. This study also addresses the growing need for research into the transferability of sexual health interventions to facilitate evidence-based decision-making about program dissemination and implementation.

Feasibility and acceptability of a web-based HIV/STD prevention program for adolescent girls targeting sexual communication skills.

Adolescent girls are at substantial risk of sexually transmitted diseases including HIV. To reduce these risks, we developed Health Education And Relationship Training (HEART), a web-based intervention focused on developing sexual assertiveness skills and enhancing sexual decision-making. This study assessed the feasibility and acceptability of this new program and examined if perceived acceptability varied according to participant ethnicity, sexual orientation or sexual activity status. Participants were part of a randomized controlled trial of 222 10th-grade girls (Mage = 15.26). The current analyses included those in the intervention condition (n = 107; 36% white, 27% black and 29% Hispanic). HEART took approximately 45 min to complete and was feasible to administer in a school-based setting. Participants found the program highly acceptable: 95% liked the program and learned from the program, 88% would recommend the program to a friend and 94% plan to use what they learned in the future. The primary acceptability results did not vary by the ethnicity, sexual orientation or sexual activity status of participants, suggesting broad appeal. Results indicate that this new online program is a promising method to reach and engage adolescents in sexual health education.

The German health care system and health care reform.

This article presents a structured survey of the German health care and health insurance system, and analyzes major developments of current German health policy. The German statutory health insurance system has been known as a system that provides all citizens with ready access to comprehensive high quality medical care at a cost the country considered socially acceptable. However, an increasing concern for rapidly rising health care expenditure led to a number of cost-containment measures since 1977. The aim was to bring the growth of health care expenditure in line with the growth of wages and salaries of the sickness fund members. The recent health care reforms of 1989 and 1993 yielded only short-term reductions of health care expenditure, with increases in the subsequent years. 'Stability of the contribution rate' is the uppermost political objective of current health care reform initiatives. Options under discussion include reductions in the benefit package and increases of patients' co-payments. The article concludes with the possible consequences of the 1997 health care reform of which the major part became effective 1 July 1997.