Pilot test of interactive theater to improve parent communication on pregnancy prevention

Joanne Noone, Maggie Sullivan, Thuan Nguyen, Tiffany L. Allen

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

Purpose: Over 80% of pregnancies in American women aged 15-19 are unintended. Parental communication is vital to assist adolescents to navigate decisions about sexuality. This study evaluated an intervention using interactive theater to facilitate parent communication with adolescents about sexuality. Methods: Teen actors educated 26 parents in a community theater setting. Process evaluations and measures of communication, comfort, self-efficacy and intention to communicate were administered. Findings:. Significant improvements in communication (p <.001), comfort (p <.05) and self efficacy (p <.05) occurred at 3-month follow up. Intention to communication scores improved but were nonsignificant. Participants rated the acceptability of the intervention as a mean of 4.69, with 1 meaning "Strongly Disagree" to 5 meaning "Strongly Agree". Conclusions: An interactive theater intervention facilitated parent-adolescent communication about sexuality. Theater interventions can reach participants of varying literacy levels to produce behavior change through vicarious experience as well as active participation.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)68-80
Number of pages13
JournalArts and Health
Volume5
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 2013

Keywords

  • parent communication
  • teen pregnancy
  • theater

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Medicine (miscellaneous)
  • Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)

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