- August 29, 2014
- Jennifer Salerno
In reality – every day is a good day to screen teens for high risk sexual behaviors. But this summer why not include sexual health screening along with your usual season-specific preventive advice?
We know identifying high risk sexual health behaviors and successfully intervening can be a challenge in this age group. So we developed RAAPS Sexual Health Risk Assessment (RAAPS SH) to make it easier to identify:
- – The early onset of sexual activity
- – Multiple sexual partners
- – Not using a condom during last intercourse
- – Not using contraceptives
- – Or using drugs or alcohol prior to sex
But not all of the behaviors that identify the youth who are highest sexual risk are actually sexual behaviors. With RAAPS SH the adolescents most at-risk in their sexual health can be identified by their contributing risk behaviors such as depression, history of abuse and academic struggles.
In a quality improvement project for disadvantaged youth being administered by the Michigan Department of Community Health (MDHC) the RAAPS SH revealed disturbing findings on these inter-related risk behaviors, including:
- – 15% of surveyed youth have been homeless in the last 12 months
- – 66% have been suspended
- – 23% report depressive feelings
- – 22% received or sent sexual messages on their phone or the internet
- – 70% have had sex in the past 3 months…
- – …and 40% failed to use a condom the last time they had sex
Designed especially for the unique needs of sexually active adolescents – and the providers who work with them, RAAPS-SH also minimizes workflow impact, supports your counseling efforts, and helps you meet evidence-based guidelines, Title X, and performance-based billing requirements.
Contact us for more information about this unique system. Or register to watch our recorded webinar entitled “Protecting Sexually Active Teens…” for additional information about the MDCH project, sexual health disparities, and the complex web of inter-related risk factors influencing risky sexual behavior in adolescents.