Reducing Teen Risky Behavior: A Clinic-Based Approach

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The primary aim of this R34 is to further develop a parent-based intervention designed to reduce adolescent sexual risk behavior in Latino and African American inner city populations. This research will lead to a large- scale clinical trial in the form of an R01. The intervention uses a novel outreach approach relative to extant parent-based interventions. Specifically, the intervention takes place in a primary healthcare clinic and will be coordinated through allied health professionals when family physicians see adolescents for their annual physical examinations. A mother who accompanies her adolescent to the physical will meet with a social work interventionist for approximately 25 minutes while her child is being examined by the physician. During this time, the intervention will be administered by the social work interventionist to the mother. At the conclusion of the session, the mother will be given reference materials to take home and tasks to perform to facilitate discussions about sex with her adolescent. There will be three follow-up booster sessions administered through phone calls to increase completion probabilities of the tasks. The target behavior is sexual activity in adolescents. The overall goal of the research program is to develop a practical, effective, and cost-efficient parent intervention that can be used in health care settings that will reach large numbers of parents and reduce adolescent sexual activity.