Authors: Flores, Alina L.; Kilker, Katie P.

Source: American Journal of Health Education, Volume 38, Number 2, March/April 2007 , pp. 112-115(4)

Publisher: American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation & Dance

Abstract:

Adolescents who engage in risky sexual behavior and have poor nutrition are at risk for neural tube defect-affected pregnancies. Existing folic acid education efforts, however, are often designed for adult women. To develop a message that is relevant to adolescent audiences, focus groups were conducted with middle school students to assess a draft brochure's readability, understandability, and visual appeal. This article describes the development of a folic acid educational fact card aimed at young adolescents.

The Prevention Research Team of the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has developed several products to educate the public about folic acid. These materials have been very popular with women over the age of 18, but no suitable material is available for adolescents or, in particular, for younger adolescents. Several partners reported that they had conducted folic acid presentations at middle and high schools in their local areas but did not have an appropriate product to leave with students to help reinforce their message. In response to this deficiency in educational materials, the Prevention Research Team began developing a tool for middle school students. The goal of this tool, a brochure, is to reach a young adolescent audience with the folic acid message to encourage a daily health habit that would carry into later adolescence and adulthood.

Document Type: Research article

Publication date: 2007-03-01

More about this publication?

• The American Journal of Health Education (AJHE) is a rigorously refereed journal, published bi-monthly under the auspices of the American Association for Health Education, and indexed in over ten databases. AJHE provides meticulously reviewed articles that report original research findings, systematic state-of-the art reviews on key topics, contemporary viewpoints and developments in the field of Health Education, commentaries, descriptions and accounts of strategies that promote the health of populations in community, health care, and worksite settings, teaching ideas for educational settings from pre-K to higher education, and recent resource materials. Certified Health Education Specialists (CHES) may earn Category I continuing education credit hours through two self-study articles per issue of AJHE.
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