Search

Adolescent sexual and reproductive health (ASRH) inequities are well documented for historically excluded youth (i.e., youth of color, LGBTQIA+ youth, youth with disabilities, recently im/migrated youth) living in the U.S. Northeast. However, the lived experience of male-identifying young people from historically excluded backgrounds in ASRH remains largely unexamined. The purpose of this paper is to present findings related to male-identified perspectives on social constructions of sexuality, sexual and reproductive health, and sexuality education. A research team composed of two local youth-serving organizations, eight youth researchers, and university researchers, used Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) methods to examine how structural violence contributes to inequitable ASRH outcomes for historically excluded youth. Photovoice and community mapping were used as YPAR methods. We also completed individual interviews on the same topic with the youth and with 17 key stakeholders that either provide services to youth or are emerging adult service recipients. Community-driven data reveal two major themes around the silencing of male-identified voices in ASRH: lack of culture-centered and gender-expansive approaches for ASRH, and the subsequent toll of sexism and (cis)gendered social and educational norms on young people. Our findings highlight that sexuality education, cisgender hetero culture, and social norms have put the onus of responsibility on people identifying as women for sexual and reproductive health. An unintended consequence of that is that young people identifying as men may feel powerless and uninformed around their own SRH. Our findings illustrate the importance of using culture-centered and gender-transformative approaches to ASRH to address inequity.

COVID-19 has upended community based participatory research (CBPR) projects across the United States and globally. COVID-19 disproportionately impacts historically disenfranchised communities and communities of color, the very communities that CBPR is meant to engage, elevate, and support. In-person activities that help develop rapport and research protocols, build capacity, conduct collaborative data collection and analysis, disseminate findings to the community, and engage in sustainability planning are an impossible practice during the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this article is to describe the challenges and facilitators of shifting to a virtual/online CBPR protocol with a Massachusetts community disproportionately affected by COVID19, as a means to keep them engaged in the research process and to elevate their experiences, perspectives, and voices during this critical time. We include insights about how to facilitate recruitment and compensate community members, form a community advisory board (CAB), hold CAB meetings, and transition participatory qualitative data collection, analysis, and dissemination to a virtual/online framework.

African American men continue to bear a disproportionate share of the burden of disease. Engaging these men in health research and health promotion programs—especially lower-income, African American men who are vulnerable to chronic disease conditions such as obesity and heart disease—has historically proven quite difficult for researchers and public health practitioners. The few effective outreach strategies identified in the literature to date are largely limited to recruiting through hospital clinics, churches, and barbershops. The Men of Color Health Awareness (MOCHA) project is a grassroots, community-driven initiative that has developed a number of innovative outreach strategies. After describing these strategies, we present data on the demographic and health characteristics of the population reached using these methods, which indicate that MOCHA has been highly effective in reaching this population of men.