Ybarraa ML, Price-Feeney M,Prescott T, Goodenow C, Saewyc E, Rosariod M.Girl2Girl: How to develop a salient pregnancy prevention program for cisgender sexual minority adolescent girls. Journal of Adolescence. 2020; 85 (41-58). doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2020.09.006
Abstract:
Introduction
Although sexual minority girls are more likely than heterosexual girls to be pregnant during adolescence, programs tailored to their needs are non-existent. Here we describe the iterative development of Girl2Girl, a text messaging-based pregnancy prevention program for cisgender lesbian, gay, bisexual and other sexual minority (LGB+) girls across the United States.
Methods
Four activities are described: 1) 8 online focus groups to gain feedback about intended program components (n = 160), 2) writing the intervention content, 3) 4 online Content Advisory Teams that reviewed and provided feedback on the salience of drafted intervention content (n = 82), and 4) a beta test to confirm program functionality, the feasibility of assessments, and the enrollment protocol (n = 27). Participants were 14–18-year-old cisgender LGB+ girls recruited nationally on social media. Across study activities, between 52% and 70% of participants were 14–16 years of age, 10–22% were Hispanic ethnicity, and 30–44% were minority race.
Results
Focus group participants were positive about receiving text messages about sexual health, although privacy was of concern. Thus, better safeguards were built into the enrollment process. Teens in the Content Advisory Teams found the content to be approachable and compelling, although many wanted more gender-inclusive messaging. Messages were updated to not assume people with penises were boys. Between 71 and 86% of participants in the beta test provided weekly feedback, most of which was positive; no one withdrew during the seven-week study period.
Conclusions
This careful step-by-step iterative approach appears to have resulted in a high level of intervention feasibility and acceptability.