Abstract
Theories about women's health have not traditionally been extended to include the healthy development of young women. This article applies a women's health perspective to the implementation and evaluation processes of a gender-specific primary prevention program that worked with 9-to 14-year-old Hispanic girls in a low-income community. Although community-based after-school programs can be an important venue for education and girls' development, long-term effects are elusive to evaluate. The authors used ethnographic techniques to learn more about girls and their interactions with the program and to assess short-term program impact. Three themes were found: Program environment can contribute to girls' expression and behavior, issues of struggling families can slide girls into early adulthood, and mentoring can benefit both girls and adult women. Community-based primary prevention programs, although an essential part of a social safety net available to low-income girls, provide researchers with a unique set of evaluation challenges.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 174-179 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | Health promotion practice |
Volume | 7 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Apr 2006 |
Keywords
- community-based programs
- gender-specific programs
- primary prevention
- youth development
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
- Nursing (miscellaneous)