Empowering Latino Youth Project (ELYP):What is the Empowering Latino Youth Project:The Empowering Latino Youth Project is a collaborative research and demonstration project between the George Washington University, School of Public Health and Health Services, Identity Inc., and Mary's Center. The project is led by faculty, staff, students and community organizations committed to addressing the health and well being of Latino youth living in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. The project will implement and evaluate the Be Yourself/Se tu mismo program, an innovative after school positive youth development program. The program goals are to delay sexual onset, decrease pregnancy wantedness and ambivalence, increase condom and contraceptive use, and decrease teen pregnancy among high school Latino youth. The Empowering Latino Youth Project (ELYP) The overall trend in declining teen pregnancy rates (except for a one-time uptick in 2006) masks the disproportionately high numbers experienced by minority groups in the United States, for whom prevention efforts have not been as successful. According to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, 53 percent of Latinas get pregnant in their teens, about twice the national average. The metropolitan area, specifically, Montgomery County has teen birth rates well below the state of Maryland, however, drastic differences exist among ethnic and racial groups. Latino 15-19 year old teens reported a birth rate of 78.8 births per 1,000 women; more than twice the teen birth rates of Black teens (28.6 per 1,000 women) and three times the rate for Whites (22.5 births per 1,000 women).This research project will determine how successful the Be Yourself/Sé tu mismo program is at preventing teen pregnancy among Latino teens by measuring increases in theoretical constructs and learning objectives (i.e. psychosocial characteristics) and changes in outcome/behavioral objectives (i.e. sexual behavior) in the experimental and control groups from baseline to follow-up. This study is significant for field advancements, specifically to contribute to the knowledge base of programs aimed at reducing teen pregnancy for growing minority populations. The Office of Adolescent Health, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS/OAH) is providing the funding for this research project (Award Number: TP2AH000015). This content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the US Department of Health and Human Services or the Office of Adolescent Health. The key personnel involved with the project are: Dr. Amita N. Vyas, Principal Investigator and Assistant Professor in the Department of Prevention and Community Health, GWU; Dr. Susan Wood, Co- Principal Investigator, Associate Professor of Health Policy and of Environmental & Occupational Health, Director Jacob's Institute on Women's Health GWU; Megan Landry, Senior Research Associate, GWU; Diego Uriburu, Executive Director, Identity, Inc.; Joan Yengo, Vice President of Programs, Mary's Center; Michaela Sachs, Latino Pregnancy Prevention Program Manager, Identity, Inc; Tania Hindert, Director Teen Programs, Mary's Center. Contact Information: |
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