The CDC NPIN Featured Partner resource offers HIV/AIDS, viral hepatitis, STD, and TB prevention-focused organizations a platform to showcase their services, programs, and materials. Our goal is to highlight the work of CDC's prevention partners and encourage partners to connect with each other to share information and strategies. Organizations are nominated by CDC or their peers, or are self-nominated. Those selected are featured on the NPIN Web site for the month.
The
Sexual Health Program at the University of Missouri (MU), supported by the
Student Health Center, has provided the campus community with high quality, innovative,
and evidence-based programming for more than 15 years.
The
program's projects and educational interventions are all based on four core
values: Talk, Respect, Protect, and Enjoy. The Sexual
Health Program delivers accurate information through multiple channels,
including a valid and reliable assessment tool designed to measure the sexual
health knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of college students. These data
support the program's campus projects, including
- Sexual Health
Advocate Peer Education (SHAPE), a program providing students with well-trained
peer educators who promote sexual health, responsibility, and safety. An
approved general education course entitled "Sexual Health Advocacy and Service
Learning" serves as the prerequisite for students to apply to the program and
allows them the opportunity to investigate sexual health through a socio-cultural
lens. A portion of their final course grade requires students to work with a
community agency and complete 35 hours of service learning (SL). The class and
SL experience promote student introspection and reflection on their sexual
health values. Twelve peer educators have made more than 5,500 student contacts
and conducted more than 38 sexual health presentations between fall 2009 and
spring 2010.
- Sexual Health
and Safety Products (SHSP), an initiative designed to promote safe, responsible
sexual health decision making as well as to increase students' accessibility to
sexual health safety products and resources. Each sexual health and safety product
dispenser features a poster that prompts students to think before they engage
in any sexual activity. Each safety product packet contains a list of sexual
health resources, on- and off-campus. Peer educators stock the machines with
supplies and conduct regular safety product demonstrations. User-friendly
videos are available on the Web site. This initiative has fostered a
strong partnership with the Department of Residential Life.
- SHealth, a Web
site designed entirely by students for students offering MU students the
opportunity to navigate through realistic sexual health scenarios and receive
feedback on their sexual health decision making. The site offers blogs, forums,
and individualized feedback to questions posed by students. A sexually
transmitted infection (STI) stigmatization model is in development and will be
evaluated for use in fall 2011.
- Sex Word of
the Day (SWD), a social marketing campaign where peer educators have developed
words that all begin with "sex" and correspond with sexually responsible
messages. The messages are delivered through cartoon replicas of the peer
educators to assist in captivating audiences with the intent to promote peer-to-peer
interaction. Each "toon" delivers social norms messages and promotes
conversation on sexual health responsibility.
These
projects were all designed to provide MU students opportunities to speak openly
and honestly about sexual health and to increase access to safe, credible sexual
health resources.
In April
2009 and 2010, UM promoted the GYT-STD Awareness Campaign in collaboration with
CDC. This campaign was spearheaded by the sexual health peer educators and
supported by UM's Student Health Center. With the help of the Boone County
Health Department and Rain—a nonprofit organization that provides comprehensive
STI, HIV/hepatitis education, early detection, and care coordination for at-risk
individuals, families, and communities—this campaign proved to be highly
successful. The Student Health Center provided the confidential testing site
and the marketing while the two local agencies provided the STI counseling and
testing.
Marketing
strategies included creating a Facebook event page, distributing free M-I-Z,
G-Y-T buttons (MIZ is student slang for the university), and posting announcements on Web sites and listservs, in
addition to using a campus-wide distribution list to all MU students. In
addition, GYT posters and flyers were placed in high traffic areas in academic
buildings across campus.
134 STI
tests were conducted, and 48 students were turned
away due to the large demand and limited testing resources. Multiple pre- and post-evaluations
were conducted on the day of the event, during presentations, and in the clinic,
and results indicate
Of those who
completed the survey (n=74), 51% of MU students had heard of the GYT campaign
before coming to get tested.- 54% credited
the GYT campaign for helping them decide and realize the importance of getting
tested.
- 40% had talked
to their partner and/or friends about STI testing and sexual health because of
the GYT campaign.
- More than 35%
of students who took the pre- and posttests know how human papillomavirus and chlamydia
are contracted and transmitted.
The GYT
campaign was successful in providing cost-effective access to sexual health
resources, giving the peer educators leadership opportunities and improving
student awareness of sexual health agencies across campus and in the community.
Contact the NPIN Outreach Team for more information on Featured Partner nominations – npinoutreach@cdcnpin.org
