Ask “Txtina” – Going Mobile with Sex Education and Teen Pregnancy Prevention Awareness

Background:  After falling for 14 straight years, the national teen birth rate suddenly jumped 3 percent between 2005 and 2007. The state of Iowa reflected this trend, with teenage pregnancy rates rising to nearly 33 percent for women ages 15–19.  Experts debated the cause, blaming everything from an over-sexualized culture to abstinence-only education to the negative influence of mass media. Recognizing the scope of this public health issue in Iowa, the Iowa Department of Human Services and Eyes Open Iowa recruited Fleishman-Hillard (FH) to establish and promote an evidence-based teen pregnancy prevention program.

Program background:  The Iowa Department of Human Services and EyesOpenIowa partnered with Fleishman-Hillard to build on last year’s statewide teen pregnancy prevention campaign, Talking Sex Together (TxT), aimed to motivate behavior change and impact teen attitudes and perceptions about sexual health. To keep the program new and fresh, this year TxT introduced “TxTina” a trained health educator to serve as the campaign spokesperson. Via a text message hotline teens submit questions and receive instant, anonymous and accurate answers from “TxTina” who is personified as an animated character. Ask “TxTina” provides a risk-free outlet for teens to address important sexual health questions/issues, which may otherwise go unanswered. 

Evaluation Methods and Results: 

• More than 2,170 teens signed-up to receive via text weekly quizzes, facts and polls related to sexual health.
• 89 percent of participating teens reported the campaign positively influenced attitudes, behaviors, and decisions related to sex.
• Text Message Hotline received and answered 1,652 questions submitted by teens, and received teens’ answers to polls, quizzes and questions, averaging engagement of 39 percent.

Conclusions:  Through the utilization of research findings and principles from proven behavior change models, Talking Sex Together (TxT) delivers medically accurate information that empowers teens to make informed decisions while encouraging an ongoing dialogue about sexual health. Efforts to affect health attitudes, perceptions and behavior changes work best through the incorporation of relevant theoretical frameworks, audience segmentation, careful message design and appropriate channel selection. Implemented at the state level, this campaign serves as a scalable model to reach niche audiences with significant health information and motivate intended action.

Implications for research and/or practice:  Talking Sex Together emphasizes the importance of effectively reaching target audiences by joining the conversation in places where they already are and in a way in which they feel comfortable. Because teenagers are generally hesitant and/or embarrassed to broach the topic of sex, text messaging is an appropriate vehicle to open dialogue through a private channel teens already engage with regularly – their cell phones. Through the lens of the TxT program model, the presentation will share key learnings, considerations, and effective strategies to successfully navigate social media and mobile communications in the evolving public health landscape and integrate these communications with traditional communication tactics.