The findings and conclusions in these presentations have not been formally disseminated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and should not be construed to represent any agency determination or policy.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008 - 11:30 AM
C2f

Core Competencies for Providers of Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health: Implications for STD Staff Training and Development

Paul Gibson1, John Elfers2, Sharla Smith3, Erica Monasterio4, Marsha Gelt5, Kay Todd6, Dorith Hertz7, Sandi Goldstein8, Candice Zimmerman9, Anita Aguirre10, Ron Valenti11, Annette Amey10, Ed Wolf7, and Ben Bartos12. (1) STD Control Branch, California Department of Public Health, 645 S. Bascom Avenue, Room 163, San Jose, CA, USA, (2) San Luis Obispo County Office of Education, 3350 Education Drive, San Luis Obispo, CA, USA, (3) School Health Connections/ Healthy Start Office, California Department of Education, 1430 N Street, Suite 6408, Sacramento, CA, USA, (4) Division of Adolescent Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, 3333 California Street, Suite 245, San Francisco, CA, USA, (5) Center For Health Training, 614 Grand Avenue, Suite 400, Oakland, CA, USA, (6) ETR Associates, 4 Carbonero Way, Scotts Valley, CA, USA, (7) California Department of Public Health, Office of AIDS, P.O. Box 942732, MS 7700, Sacramento, CA, (8) California Adolescent Health Collaborative, 555 12th Street, 10th Floor, Oakland, CA, USA, (9) California Department of Public Health, Adolescent Family Life Program - MCAH/OFP Branch, 1615 Capital Avenue, P.O. Box 997420, MS 8400, Sacramento, CA, USA, (10) California Family Health Council, 492 Division Street, Campbell, CA, USA, (11) Kern High School District, 5801 Sundale Avenue, Bakersfield, CA, USA, (12) California School Boards Association, 3100 Beacon Boulevard, West Sacramento, CA, USA


Background:
STD rates are disproportionately represented in adolescents; however, STD staff rarely posses, or are trained on the competencies essential for working effectively with adolescent populations on sexual and reproductive health.

Objective:
To develop adolescent-specific competencies appropriate for all staff that provide STD, HIV/AIDS, and/or pregnancy prevention services to adolescents.

Method:
A subcommittee of the California Adolescent Sexual Health Work Group (ASHWG) was formed to develop core competencies (CC) for multidisciplinary providers of adolescent reproductive and sexual health. The subcommittee conducted three phases of development, review, and revision of the CC, including examination by a panel of national experts in adolescent sexual health.

Result:
A total of fifty one mutually-inclusive core competencies were developed across five domains of adolescent sexual and reproductive health. The Professional and Legal domain addresses legal responsibilities and professional/personal boundaries. The Adolescent Development domain addresses adolescent cognitive, psycho-social, emotional, and physical development. The Youth Development/Youth Culture domain addresses the youth development approach, resiliency, and youth culture. The Sexual/Reproductive Health domain addresses stages of sexual development, human sexual response, sexual relationships, and gender/sexual identity issues. The Pregnancy, STDs, and HIV domain addresses fundamental understanding of these topic-specific areas. Implementation of the core competencies has been adopted as a Title V objective by the California MCAH/OFP Branch.

Conclusion:
There is interdisciplinary support to adopt adolescent sexual and reproductive health core competencies to ensure consistent, appropriate, and effective services for adolescent populations across STD, HIV, and pregnancy prevention programs.

Implications:
STD programs can utilize the core competencies to develop staff training and development modules on adolescent sexual and reproductive health. Adoption of these core competencies can enhance collaboration, cross-training, and service integration among multidisciplinary adolescent programs.

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