Teen Advocates for Prevention

Teen Advocates For Prevention (TAP) is a peer education program developed by EQL Experts for teens to receive an extra dose (30 hours) of comprehensive sex education training, including, but not limited to: sexually transmitted diseases, male and female reproductive systems, developing healthy relationships, abstinence and life communication skills. The teens master the content over an eight week period and practice the art of teaching and conducting engaging activities with EQL Experts. At the end of the training, the TAP Teens are ready to teach what they have learned to pre-teens participating in local after school programs, recreation and enrichment program, faith initiatives, and holiday, spring break and summer camps. A trained EQL Expert oversees the entire project and conducts the workshops with significant contribution from the assigned TAP Teen.

Background. The Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey (YRBSS), a survey given to students in 9th through 12th grade across the United States, revealed that 47.4% of students had ever had sexual intercourse in 2011. At least six percent of students in the United States had sexual intercourse for the first time before age 13, and by age 15, thirteen percent of teens had sex (CDC: YRBS Overview). Such factors contribute to unintended teen pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections. Statistics also show that teens listen and believe their peers about most maters…including sex! Thus Teen Advocates For Prevention is a health promotion effort to empower teens who have already completed the evidence based program “Becoming A Responsible Teen” to voyage further into the field of disease prevention and share their accumulated knowledge in a fun and interactive way with other teens and preteens.

TAP Teens In Action. In the summer of 2012, TAP Teens reached 30 youth with an EQL adaptation of an evidence-based curriculum for pre-teens. Through various interactive activities the TAP Teens helped teach the pre-teen participants about the importance of abstinence and other age appropriate, sexual health education material.