NYT Examines N.C. Group Offering Text Message Line For Teen Sex Education Questions

Main Category: Sexual Health / STDs
Also Included In: Pediatrics / Children's Health;  IT / Internet / E-mail;  Women's Health / Gynecology
Article Date: 05 May 2009 - 5:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   opinions  

The New York Times on Sunday examined how some teen pregnancy prevention programs are using technology to connect with teenagers and improve access to sex education. The Times profiled the Birds and Bees Text Line, an educational text messaging service operated by the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Campaign of Durham, N.C. Teen pregnancy rates have been slowly climbing since 2003 in North Carolina, where schools teach abstinence-only sex education curricula. The state now has the ninth-highest teen pregnancy rate in the country, the Times reports. The Birds and Bees Text Line allows teens to obtain medically accurate answers to sex- and health-related questions through personal, anonymous text messages. The line has nine staff members who have graduate degrees in public health or social work, or have many years' experience working with teens. Under the program's guidelines, staff members do not give medical advice, instead instructing teens to see a doctor or referring them to local clinics, Web sites or emergency hot lines. The program is supported by a $5,000 grant from the state health department that pays for the cell phone line and advertising. The program is modeled after a similar effort in Alexandria, Va.

The Times reports that the North Carolina text line is one of several efforts across the country in which health educators are using technology to offer teens "sex ed on their turf." Many epidemiologists and public health experts say that school sex education programs are insufficient and ineffective. While lawmakers continue to debate the merits of comprehensive versus abstinence-only sex education programs in schools, the rates of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections have plateaued or begun increasing in many parts of the country. Washington, D.C., Chicago, Toronto, and San Francisco have implemented programs that allow teens to text a number to receive answers to commonly asked questions about sex and referrals to local clinics. A statewide program in California, called HookUp 365247, allows teens to text a Zip code to a number to receive the address of a local clinic.

Health researchers also are investigating how to use social networking sites, like MySpace and YouTube, to reach teens. Deb Levine, executive director of ISIS, a not-for-profit organization that has launched many technology-based reproductive health programs, said that technology takes away the "shame and embarrassment" many teens feel when talking about sex. "It's the perceived privacy that people have when they're typing into a computer or cell phone," she said, adding that "it's culturally appropriate for young people: they don’t learn about this from adults lecturing them." Sheana Bull, an expert on STIs and technology at the University of Colorado School of Public Health, said, "The technology can be used to connect young people to trusted competent adults who have competent information." She noted that such technology-based services do have some limitations, including that they do not reach a large number of teens automatically and depend on human interaction.

Opponents of comprehensive education have criticized the programs as undermining the abstinence-only message taught in schools. Bill Brooks, president of North Carolina Family Policy Council, said that it "doesn’t make sense to fund a program that is different than the state standards." The Times reports that North Carolina currently is debating a bill that would permit comprehensive sex education in schools (Hoffman, New York Times, 5/3).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You can view the entire Daily Women's Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women's Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.

© 2009 The Advisory Board Company. All rights reserved.

• Additional
• References
• Citations