San Francisco / Safer Sex Info Goes High-Tech
The condom broke. You think you could be pregnant or been exposed to a sexually transmitted disease.
So you turn to your cell phone for help: "if u hve sex, u can get an STD + not know it. Chlamydia, gonorrhea=no symptoms most of the time Dropin get chcked FREE," reads the text message tip, followed by an address and hours of a health clinic.
This week, San Francisco becomes the first city in the country to direct safer sex advice to young people through text messages on their cell phones. Michelle Irving, a 22-year-old peer educator with the city's Department of Public Health, said young people are constantly sending text messages, and she thinks they'll respond to the privacy and immediacy of getting advice on their cell phones.
"A lot of teenagers don't go to clinics, and they're afraid to ask questions. Text messaging, it's no one's business but yours," Irving said. "They don't have to talk to someone if they think they're pregnant or their condom broke. It's confidential, so no one has to feel embarrassed or humiliated."
Users send the message "sexinfo" to one of two phone numbers set up by the health department and within seconds get a reply asking them to clarify their question by choosing one of several options, including what to do about a broken condom and how to respond to pressures to have sex.
The whole back-and-forth process takes one or two minutes, and most messages ends with a phone number to call for further help. The program is designed to be teen-friendly, and the messages are written in text message lingo that's familiar to young people.
"We wanted to design a program that would reach young people with the technology they use most often," said Jacqueline McCright, community-based STD services manager at the Department of Public Health. "Most youth get their information from their friends. ... They're winging it, trying to figure it out for themselves. We thought this would be a good way to get them information that's reliable, quick, nonjudgmental and private."
The text-messaging program, which is directed at young people ages 12 to 24, is modeled after a similar program in London. It will cost about $2,500 a month to run the automated program in San Francisco. The San Francisco program comes in response to climbing STD rates among young people in the city -- including a particularly alarming 100 percent increase in gonorrhea cases among black teenagers last year. The Public Health Department spent a year brainstorming ways to reach young people who weren't getting the information they needed from more traditional resources, such as parents, schools or even community health clinics for teenagers.
San Francisco 15-year-old Mattie Loyce said she used to get her sex education from a radio program geared to young people. But as she's gotten older, she's learning most of what she knows about sex from "experience and friends."
She's on her cell phone all the time, she said, and "it'd be cool" to be able to send a text message for safer sex advice. Her friend Chiarra Tillers, 16, agreed, especially if the information available is accurate and reliable.
"There are a lot of myths, things that aren't true, that you hear about," Tillers said. "If what they tell you is true, that's great."
The Public Health Department isn't alone in relying on new technology to reach a younger, at-risk audience about sex. Planned Parenthood Golden Gate recently began a new campaign under the slogan "safe is sexy," including ads on MTV and MySpace.
Planned Parenthood also is looking into a text-messaging program of its own that would allow patients to make appointments, or receive reminders, by sending text messages on their cell phones.
Planned Parenthood's ad campaign has come under attack by some conservative groups that promote abstinence education. In particular, conservative organizations have denounced the focus on teenagers, including a Planned Parenthood referral program that gives patients free movie tickets and enters them in a contest to win an iPod if they encourage a friend to make an appointment.
But Therese Wilson, senior vice president at Planned Parenthood Golden Gate, said it's critical that young people have as much unfettered access to safer sex information as they can get. And luring them with new technology is a method that already seems to work.
"We're trying to keep up with the technology because it's very evident that younger audiences, that's how they communicate," Wilson said. "We strive to be very smart about our advertising dollars, and I think we do a good job of that."
So you turn to your cell phone for help: "if u hve sex, u can get an STD + not know it. Chlamydia, gonorrhea=no symptoms most of the time Dropin get chcked FREE," reads the text message tip, followed by an address and hours of a health clinic.
This week, San Francisco becomes the first city in the country to direct safer sex advice to young people through text messages on their cell phones. Michelle Irving, a 22-year-old peer educator with the city's Department of Public Health, said young people are constantly sending text messages, and she thinks they'll respond to the privacy and immediacy of getting advice on their cell phones.
"A lot of teenagers don't go to clinics, and they're afraid to ask questions. Text messaging, it's no one's business but yours," Irving said. "They don't have to talk to someone if they think they're pregnant or their condom broke. It's confidential, so no one has to feel embarrassed or humiliated."
Users send the message "sexinfo" to one of two phone numbers set up by the health department and within seconds get a reply asking them to clarify their question by choosing one of several options, including what to do about a broken condom and how to respond to pressures to have sex.
The whole back-and-forth process takes one or two minutes, and most messages ends with a phone number to call for further help. The program is designed to be teen-friendly, and the messages are written in text message lingo that's familiar to young people.
"We wanted to design a program that would reach young people with the technology they use most often," said Jacqueline McCright, community-based STD services manager at the Department of Public Health. "Most youth get their information from their friends. ... They're winging it, trying to figure it out for themselves. We thought this would be a good way to get them information that's reliable, quick, nonjudgmental and private."
The text-messaging program, which is directed at young people ages 12 to 24, is modeled after a similar program in London. It will cost about $2,500 a month to run the automated program in San Francisco. The San Francisco program comes in response to climbing STD rates among young people in the city -- including a particularly alarming 100 percent increase in gonorrhea cases among black teenagers last year. The Public Health Department spent a year brainstorming ways to reach young people who weren't getting the information they needed from more traditional resources, such as parents, schools or even community health clinics for teenagers.
San Francisco 15-year-old Mattie Loyce said she used to get her sex education from a radio program geared to young people. But as she's gotten older, she's learning most of what she knows about sex from "experience and friends."
She's on her cell phone all the time, she said, and "it'd be cool" to be able to send a text message for safer sex advice. Her friend Chiarra Tillers, 16, agreed, especially if the information available is accurate and reliable.
"There are a lot of myths, things that aren't true, that you hear about," Tillers said. "If what they tell you is true, that's great."
The Public Health Department isn't alone in relying on new technology to reach a younger, at-risk audience about sex. Planned Parenthood Golden Gate recently began a new campaign under the slogan "safe is sexy," including ads on MTV and MySpace.
Planned Parenthood also is looking into a text-messaging program of its own that would allow patients to make appointments, or receive reminders, by sending text messages on their cell phones.
Planned Parenthood's ad campaign has come under attack by some conservative groups that promote abstinence education. In particular, conservative organizations have denounced the focus on teenagers, including a Planned Parenthood referral program that gives patients free movie tickets and enters them in a contest to win an iPod if they encourage a friend to make an appointment.
But Therese Wilson, senior vice president at Planned Parenthood Golden Gate, said it's critical that young people have as much unfettered access to safer sex information as they can get. And luring them with new technology is a method that already seems to work.
"We're trying to keep up with the technology because it's very evident that younger audiences, that's how they communicate," Wilson said. "We strive to be very smart about our advertising dollars, and I think we do a good job of that."
posted by Jane at 8:32 AM
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