Creating teachable moments: a clinic-based intervention to improve young men's sexual health

Abstract

A multicomponent health education intervention for men was integrated into initial visits at the Young Men's Clinic in New York City. In all, 157 predominantly low-income, Latino and African American patients completed pre- and post-test surveys to assess their sexual and reproductive health knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors. Paired t tests compared respondents' scores on outcome variables at baseline and follow-up. Intervention participants significantly increased their knowledge (e.g., emergency contraception) and frequency of safer sexual behaviors (e.g., condom use) during the 3 months following their initial visit. The intervention was not as successful promoting positive beliefs about health care utilization or attitudes about condoms. Participants reported high levels of satisfaction with the intervention. This study provides evidence that it is feasible to effectively disseminate sexual health information to men at each step of a routine clinic visit, including down time in waiting rooms and individual encounters with health educators and medical providers.