Clinic Staff Perceptions of Implementing a Sexual and Reproductive Health Entertainment-Education Program for Young Women of Color

Objective: Entertainment-education interventions remain underutilized in sexual and reproductive health (SRH) despite evidence that they can be effective and place a low burden on staff. This study explores perceived facilitators and barriers for implementing an entertainment-education video intervention for 18- to 19-year-old African American and Latina women in SRH clinics.

Design: Cross-sectional online survey (n=100) and telephone interviews (n=19) were completed May through August 2018.

Setting: SRH clinics were located across 32 US states and 1 Canadian province.

Participants: SRH clinic staff were diverse in type of clinic, role, and geography and were recruited using purposive sampling.

Methods: Bivariate analyses were used for quantitative data, and thematic analysis was used for qualitative data.

Main outcome measures: Intervention acceptability, perceived feasibility, and likely uptake were assessed using agreement statements (survey) and open-ended questions (interviews and survey).

Results: Interviewed clinic staff described the intervention as engaging, educational, and promising for improving client SRH knowledge and behaviors. Nearly all (95%) survey respondents said showing the video would be feasible. Most (56%) indicated likely uptake, which was significantly associated with perceived feasibility (P=.000), acceptability (P≤.001), and working at a public health clinic (P=.023). Implementation barriers included the video's potential relevance to only certain clients and the need for additional information or staff and/or management buy-in.

Conclusions: This is the first study to assess perceived implementation facilitators and barriers of an entertainment-education video intervention among SRH clinic staff. The intervention was well received, with certain barriers potentially alleviated by offering information about entertainment-education and multiple implementation methods. These findings can help improve dissemination efforts for video-based entertainment-education interventions in clinics serving young women of color.