History and Antecedents

Our reason

Youth  and the organizations that promote their development and their families’ growth are the heart of TeenSmart. One of every five people in the world is an adolescent, defined as a person between 10 and 19 years of age.  There are over  1.2 billion adolescents in the world. About 88% live in developing countries (www.who.int/child-adolescent-health/OVERVIE/AHS/adh_sheer.htm (8/14/07).

TeenSmart currently provides services in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Honduras,.

Six common risk behaviors contribute to 75% of health care costs related to illness and death among adolescents in the United States and Latin America (CDC 2001; Ahl 2002, WHO, UNICEF).

The Challenge

These high-risk behaviors are:

•    Self-inflicted or accidental injuries (including car accidents, suicide, bullying and violence);

•    Use and abuse of tobacco products

•    Use and abuse of alcohol and other drugs

•    Risky sexual behaviors

•    Lack of exercise

•    Poor nutritional habits.

These behaviors are often clustered together and/or interrelated. By enlarge these behaviors are established during adolescence, persist into adulthood and all are preventable. While these behaviors are widespread among adolescents, the transition from childhood and adolescence to adulthood is often challenging.  For many youth, this transition is complicated by ambiguous cultural and community norms, increased availability of alcohol and illicit drugs, peer pressure to experience sexual intimacy at an early age, exposure to violence, inadequate family and social support, and media exposure to models of risky behavior and sedentary life styles.

The Opportunity

Worldwide, use of Internet sources of information and communication is widespread and growing. These sources of information are increasingly accessible, affordable, and potentially can be effective in providing individuals, families, and organizations with information, education, evaluation, counseling, and referral.  Furthermore, the use of web-based technology may provide new avenues to track and understand factors that influence health behaviors and health outcomes, and may increase opportunities to individualize health information.

Computer access is widespread among wealthy populations of the world, but among poor populations ownership levels and usage are much lower.  For example, in Costa Rica approximately 30% of households have a computer and 10% are connected to the Internet (Gov. Statistics 2007). In Central America both national and international, private and public sector agencies are making it possible for a growing number of the population to have access to computers and to the Internet.  For example, over the past few years with the support of private and public sector, national and international institutions, over 14 Computer laboratories (Aulanets) with access to the Internet have been established in Nicaragua .  The World Bank is also working closely with the Ministries of Education in many countries to provide computer laboratories in public schools.

Development of Health Promotion Intervention Tools

The adolescent health promotion intervention tools provided through the TeenSmart website (www.teensmart.net) combine cutting edge health promotion science information with life skills training and practice. They are based on research conducted over a 14 year period by a group of interdisciplinary health and social science professionals at Emory University , Georgia State University, University of Washington and University of Massachusetts in Boston and targeted teenagers and young adults, with an emphasis on Hispanics in community. This research was undertaken primarily in school or after school settings in the United States and Central America . Studies included careful reviews of the literature, qualitative ethnographic studies of Latino adolescents, and methodological studies to develop valid and reliable evaluation measures. Numerous pilot intervention studies were undertaken in field settings to test the acceptability of the content and teaching methods.

How does TeenSmart work?

The tools for adolescent health promotion developed by TeenSmart (www.teensmart.net) combine scientific research and field work in training of life skills. These are based on research conducted by an interdisciplinary group of professionals in Health and Social Sciences of Emory University, Georgia State University, University of Washington and University of Massachusetts in Boston, for a period of 14 years. These investigations were made both in an environment of formal and non formal education in the United States and Central America. The studies included a careful review of the literature, qualitative ethnographic studies of Latin adolescents, methodological studies to develop measures valid and reliable assessment. Several pilot interventions were performed to examine the acceptability of content and teaching methods (See list of publications and grants).