Teen4.info: a qualitative study to develop and evaluate of a reproductive health website developed in partnership with teenagers and young parents from Oxford and Great Yarmouth

C. Pyper (1), P. Johnson (2), J. Knight (1), C. Crook (3), S. Kaduskar (4), A. Boutyeb (5)

Department of Public Health, University of Oxford, Old Road Campus, Oxford, OX3 7LF, UK (1); Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, University of Oxford, Oxford Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, UK (2); Bury Knowle Health Centre, Oxford, UK (3); Consultant to Bury Knowle Health Centre, Oxford, UK (4); Young parent support worker, Bury Knowle Health Centre, Oxford, UK (5); Funding: British Telecom Higher Education Award & DoH Teenage Pregnancy Unit, DLM Trust

Introduction: The UK has the highest incidence of teenage pregnancy in Europe, which contributes to a high proportion of socially disadvantaged single parents. In addition to unhealthy lifestyles many are also infrequent attendees of antenatal health care systems and have poor pregnancy and perinatal outcomes, which may have long-term health, social and economic consequences.

Aim: To use website technology and a participatory approach to improve health promotion about Reproductive Health including: reproductive & sexual health; access to local groups and services and accesses to educational and vocational training opportunities.

Design and setting: A qualitative study in primary health care centres.

Subjects: Teenagers and young parents living in Oxford and Great Yarmouth.

Methods: The research involves the development and evaluation of information about reproductive health relevant to the target groups. The facilitators and support workers from the project team and young parents from each of the communities involved are working together to develop the pilot website A variety of methods is being used to support the participants in the development and co-ordination of the website, including facilitated group discussion, personal stories (narratives) and frequently asked questions. The information is frequently displayed as a series of images to assist those with low literacy skills. The participatory techniques used ensure that the content and design of the information is locally relevant and easily understood by the target group. An example of the information currently under development can be viewed at the website: www.Teen4.info. The website includes a locally relevant section for each community and a ‘core’ section (or hub) which is focussing on general issues developed in collaboration between the communities.

Evaluation: An initial evaluation of the teenage website project has been completed. A questionnaire survey and focus groups with teenagers and young parents who to date have not been involved in the development of the content of the web-site is being conducted in order to gain further understanding about the social, health and educational needs of teenagers who are vulnerable to becoming parents.

Results: The evaluation will describe the key lessons learnt under five headings: historical development of the website; the facilitators’ experience of involvement; the participants’ experience of involvement; the participatory methodology of the facilitation process; the development of ideas and concepts tried and revised. We will also present preliminary findings from the questionnaire survey

Conclusion: A reproductive health website needs to be dynamic and responsive to the needs of local groups. Many young people prefer images and photos to large amounts of written text. There is a need for peer group support workers to facilitate young parenting groups. There is a need for designers involved with the website development to become IT support workers and work directly with the groups. The process of developing the website in a participatory way is method for delivering a health promotion to disadvantaged young parents.