mhealth for employees: learning from the birds and bees

[fran melmed]

in north carolina, some teens are having “the talk” with the birds & bees text line. the adolescent pregnancy prevention coalition of north carolina developed this mhealth program to combat their state’s ranking: ninth-highest teen pregnancy rate in the country. (revisiting their abstinence-only sex ed curriculum might be another idea.) the text line offers all north carolina-based teens an anonymous way to ask their very personal questions and receive honest, nonjudgmental advice.

since its inception, the line’s nine staff members have received the questions you’d expect — “how do i know whether i’m kissing correctly?” or “my friend says i won’t get pregnant the fist time. is that true?” they’ve also received questions that cover tougher, more sensitive issues like “why do guys think it’s cool to sleep with girls and tell their friends?” or “do i love her or do i love the sex?”

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[fran melmed]

Dan, thanks for the questions. The truth is not as much has been published on that as on the text line and its innovation over other similar sex ed text lines. However, if they are anything like the SF-based line, sexinfo, they'll need to adapt their approach. they evolved their marketing to use more text-based, text-savvy language: "if u think he's cheating on u, get a checkup 2day." check out http://sextextsf.org for more (originally brought to my attention by shapingyouth.org)

[Dan Dunlop]

Fran, thanks for contributing by adding your post! It is always good to have another voice join in the conversation.

North Carolina definitely has its challenges with teen pregnancy - along with some other public health issues. How is the text line being promoted? How are they reaching teens with the message? Just curious.

Dan