Citation

Kachingwe ON, Lewis Q, Offiong A, Smith BD, LoVette A, Powell TW. BMC Public Health 2023; 23(1): e1052.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2023, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group - BMC)

DOI

10.1186/s12889-023-15984-2

PMID

37264451

PMCID

PMC10233545

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Children exposed to household challenges (i.e., parental substance use, incarceration, and mental illness) are among the groups most vulnerable to sexual risk-taking in adolescence. These behaviors have been associated with a range of negative outcomes later in life, including substance abuse, low educational attainment, and incarceration. Adapting an evidence-based intervention (EBI) to be suitable for this population is one strategy to address the needs of this group.

METHODS: In this study, we describe the use of the Intervention Mapping for Adaption (IM-Adapt) framework to adapt an evidence-based, sexual health intervention (Focus on Youth with Informed Children and Parents). We describe the actions taken at each step of the IM-Adapt process which are to assess needs, search for EBIs, assess fit and plan adaptions, make adaptions, plan for implementation and plan for evaluation.

RESULTS: Key changes of the adapted intervention include the incorporation of trauma-informed principles and gender inclusive language, standardization of the session length, and modernization of the content to be more appropriate for our priority population.

CONCLUSIONS: The adapted intervention shows promise toward meeting the behavioral health needs of Black youth exposed to household challenges. Our process and approach can serve as a model for researchers and practitioners aiming to extend the reach of EBIs.

Language: en

Keywords

Sexual health; Adaption; Black youth; FOY + ImPACT; Intervention mapping-adapt