•Foster youth use social media to establish and maintain intimate relationships.•Trust plays an integral role in how foster youth interact with others online.•Social media use can result in intimate ...partner violence and breached privacy.•Foster youth take concrete steps to protect themselves while online.•Parents and staff need further training on how best to support foster youth online.
Introduction
US foster youth have elevated pregnancy and sexually transmitted infection (STI) rates, yet receive limited sexual health education and intervention. Thus, we sought to co-develop a ...comprehensive model of sexual health needs among youth in foster care group homes through a community-engaged research process with foster youth and foster care staff to inform such intervention.
Methods
Our team conducted five in-depth focus groups with both foster youth placed in group homes and foster care staff (social workers and group home staff) in 2018–2019. We analyzed the data through iterative open, focus, axial, and selective/theoretical coding using constructivist grounded theory (GT) methods to produce a model of sexual health needs among youth in foster care group homes.
Results
GT analysis revealed the model’s core category, Addressing Sexual Health among Youth in Foster Care Group Homes, has three supporting categories: reproductive health system, relationship health, and mental health.
Conclusions
The study model offers new pathways for comprehensively addressing sexual health and well-being in this specialized population, grounded in foster youth and staff members’ direct, lived experiences.
Policy Implications
This conceptualization expands current intervention options beyond pregnancy/STI education programs alone to a holistic, multilevel focus on the interrelated need for trauma-informed family planning and contraception care, mental health and substance use care, sexual and emotional safety, and healthy relationships.
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