Engaging parents or trusted adults in a teen pregnancy prevention program for Native American adolescents was feasible (82.7% session completion) and resulted in increased parent-youth sexual health communication at 9 months postintervention.
Approximately 82.7% of trusted adults completed the parent-youth session of the teen pregnancy prevention program.
Having a female youth was a significant predictor of trusted adult session completion.
Speaking the Native language was a significant predictor of trusted adult session completion.
Trusted adults who completed the session were more likely to report communicating with youth about sexual health at 9 months postintervention compared to those who did not complete the session.
The study sample consisted of Native American adolescents with a mean age of 13.3 years and their trusted adults or caregivers.
The authors identified engaging male caregivers and adults with male youth as a key gap and priority for future sexual health programming.
This research suggests that including parents or trusted adults in a sexual health education program designed for Native American teenagers is both practical and beneficial. In a study of 266 Native American adolescents (average age 13) and 255 of their caregivers, over 82% of the adults successfully completed a special parent-youth session as part of a teen pregnancy prevention program. Adults who finished the session were significantly more likely to report talking with their teens about sexual health nine months later, compared to adults who did not complete the session. The study also found that certain factors were linked to whether a caregiver completed the session. Adults were more likely to complete it if they were caring for a female teenager or if they spoke their Native language. This suggests that the program was less effective at engaging caregivers of male teenagers, which the researchers highlight as an important gap to address in future program design. This research matters because Native American youth experience significant sexual health disparities, and parents are recognized as the most influential factor in adolescent sexual behavior. These findings suggest that incorporating a parent or trusted adult component into teen sexual health programs is a promising way to extend the program's impact beyond the classroom and into ongoing family conversations, though more work is needed to better engage male caregivers and the adults in male adolescents' lives.
Chambers R, Patel H, Zhang Y, Rosenstock S, Edwards A, Lee A, et al.. (2026). Engagement of Parents in an Evidence-Based Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program for Native American Adolescents.. Family & community health. https://doi.org/10.1097/FCH.0000000000000394