Funded Projects

Adolescent Sex Education in Correctional Facilities 

Project Year

2025

City & State

Houston, Texas

Program Name

CATCH Resident

Topic

STIs

Program Description

"Problem: Nationally, sexually transmitted infection (STI) rates have been increasing since 2014.When specifically observing national rates of Neisseria gonorrhoeae (GC) and Chlamydia trachomatis (CT), there is a similar increase in rates of infection. For GC, rates increased from 1.09 per 1000 in 2014 to 1.79 per 1000 in 2018. For CT, rates increased from 4.52 per 1000 in 2014 to 5.39 per 1000 in 2018. While it is important to highlight this increase in national rates, it is imperative to also focus on vulnerable subpopulations such as incarcerated individuals. When observing GC and CT rates in incarcerated jail populations in the United States, it was found that both gonorrhea and chlamydia incidence have increased as well. The trends suggest that preventative efforts are needed to protect populations, especially those as vulnerable as the incarcerated, from an ever-increasing rate of GC and CT infections. Education has long been a tool of effective public health practice. In fact, education has been shown to reduce rates of STIs up to 4%. As such, efforts to strengthen education regarding STIs and specifically GC and CT would prove beneficial in lowering infection rates.  The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) emphasizes the importance of universal STI testing in those under 25 years old in the general population. The STI education project would provide health professions students a truly unique opportunity to translate the knowledge they are learning in the classroom to the community in a valuable and meaningful way. With the United States currently working through, what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has deemed, an STI epidemic, the project creates an important public health service in educating, screening, and treating a traditionally high-risk population for sexually transmitted infections. Primary Setting: The project will be conducted in the male and female units of the Harris County Juvenile Detention Center (under the Harris County Juvenile Probation Department) Number of children affected: In 2024, the Harris County Juvenile Detention Center had 5,119 referrals and 3,463 youth incarcerated.  Project Goal: The “Adolescent Sex Education in Correctional Facilities” project has the following aims:  •    To effectively communicate age-appropriate and context-appropriate STI prevention with persons.  •    To develop educational materials for youth inmates on STI signs and symptoms, prevention, detection and treatment, and possible complications if STIs go untreated.  •    To understand the complexities of health disparities related to education, race, income level, high-risk lifestyle, and access to healthcare, specifically among incarcerated youth. Proposed intervention:  I aim to implement an educational series that will promote a better understanding of the unique sexual health risks experienced by the youth, advocate for better understanding of reproductive health, and inspire other local organizations and governments to expand public health surveillance to include smaller, socially isolated groups, such as inmates, to most effectively care for the population at hand. My goal is to create a sustainable program for the youth at the correctional facilities by utilizing current and future medical students as educators. Anticipated outcome: Education brings awareness and increases self-efficacy related to taking care of our own sexual health. The goal is to educate this vulnerable population to prevent further spread of STIs while increasing awareness of safe sexual practices and sexual health. This is done by decreasing rates, educating about safe sex practices, and creating guides to resources in the community. "

Project Goal

To develop a comprehensive, sustainable sex education series for incarcerated youth by effectively communicating age-appropriate and context-appropriate while understand the complexities of health disparities related to education, race, income level, high-risk lifestyle, and access to healthcare, specifically among incarcerated youth.

Project Objective 1

By December 2025, complete Planned Parenthood Mar Monte’s evidence-based comprehensive online sex education modules to augment my current educational materials and expand my education techniques with a focus on trauma-informed and evidence-based education for vulnerable youth. 

Project Objective 2

By December 2025, I will create medical school interest groups to recruit volunteers for project sustainability who will present the sex education series PowerPoints at the Harris County Juvenile Probation Department on a weekly basis. 

Project Objective 3

By May 2026, I will have created a 12 PowerPoint sex education series, with edits and modifications based on youth feedback and survey results, focusing on healthy anatomy, sexual development, consent, sexual orientation, sexually transmitted infections, contraception, interpersonal relationships, reproductive rights and responsibilities, and healthy sexual communication for the youth served by the Harris County Juvenile Probation Department which will increase their basic sexual health knowledge to be advocate of their own sexual health.

AAP District

District VII

Institutional Name

Harris County Juvenile Justice Center

Contact 1

Kiely Fagundes, MD