MARS Behind Bars
This entry has been selected as a finalist in the
Young Men at Risk: Transforming the Power of a Generation competition.
The MARS Program seeks to provide incarcerated youth with knowledge and skills relating to masculinity and sexual health using peer educators facilitating the MARS curriculum.
About You
Location
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Your idea
Year the initative began (yyyy)
2000
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Plot your innovation within the mosaic of solutions
Which of these barriers is the primary focus of your work?
Culture of no accountability: Neither society nor men at risk act accountable to each other
Which of the principles is the primary focus of your work?
Change surrounding cultures to create a society that values and enriches young people’s transition to adulthood
If you believe some other barrier or principle should be included in the mosaic, please describe it and how it would affect the positioning of your initiative in the mosaic:
Transform gender roles and stereotypical ideas of masculinity to foster the mental and physical health of young men.
Stereotypical gender roles and ideas of masculinity keep men inside the box of what society thinks it means "to act like a man". However, hyper-masculinity can lead young men to make decisions that negatively impact their mental and physical health (e.g. risk taking behaviors, violence, unsafe sexual relationships). The MARS (Male Advocates for Responsible Sexuality) Program seeks to change gender norms and revise young men's ideas of what it means "to be a man" by exposing the societal pressures that create them. In doing so, young men are more likely to understand how to make healthy choices in all realms of their life, including sexuality.
Name Your Project
MARS Behind Bars
Describe Your Idea
The MARS Program seeks to provide incarcerated youth with knowledge and skills relating to masculinity and sexual health using peer educators facilitating the MARS curriculum.
Innovation
Describe your program or new idea in one sentence.
The MARS Program seeks to provide incarcerated youth with knowledge and skills relating to masculinity and sexual health using peer educators facilitating the MARS curriculum.
What makes your initiative uniquely positioned to create change in your community?
The MARS Program has seven years of experience providing comprehensive sexual and reproductive health education to young men ages 13-25. It is the only male sexual health education program in Oregon that solely focuses on the unique needs of young men. MARS has grown rapidly and has been successfully replicated on a small scale in five Oregon counties. The MARS Program is endorsed by the Oregon Department of Education and Department of Health and Human Services. This state-wide recognition creates the potential for future partnerships with diverse organizations, including juvenile correctional institutions, which have expressed interest in MARS' services, but lack resources to implement them.
MARS has experience providing sexual health education to "harder-to-reach" young males in alternative youth settings, treatment centers and juvenile departments. Use of responsible male peer role models lends credibility to program messages and provides participants with positive ideas about the people they can become.
Pre-post evaluation indicates that participants have statistically significant increases in knowledge, attitudes, self-efficacy and behavior relating to sexual/reproductive health.
Describe how you organize and carry out your work?
The MARS Program reaches young men with comprehensive sexual and reproductive health information through a six-session curriculum addressing social and media influences on sexuality, decision-making, communication, healthy relationships, birth control, and HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). This curriculum is delivered by trained male peer facilitators in a variety of youth settings.
MARS also provides free, confidential individual sexual health education sessions with a trained peer outreach worker. Sessions are client-centered and focus on the specific needs/interests of the individual.
What is your plan to scale and expand your innovation into your community and beyond?
MARS began in one Oregon county and is now being replicated in four additional counties. The "MARS Behind Bars" initiative will build upon the current successes of the program by implementing the MARS curriculum and individual sexual health education sessions with incarcerated young males, a group at higher risk for HIV/STIs. The MARS Program components will be adapted to meet the specific needs of incarcerated youth. The "MARS Behind Bars" innovation will also focus on transition-planning for youth exiting correctional institutions to link them to community-based sexual health resources.
Expansion of MARS to serve incarcerated young men will meet the need for male-specific sexual health resources that engage males in the effort to reduce rates of unintended pregnancies and HIV/STIs both during and after incarceration. MARS has gained national recognition at public health conferences and there is significant opportunity to replicate the MARS Program with currently underserved populations and in new locations throughout Oregon.
What other resources, institutional, or policy needs would be necessary to help sustain and scale up your idea?
Resources are required to maintain the current well-established infrastructure and for further program expansion. Due to the high level of skill and training required, resources must address the need for skilled outreach worker positions, as well as increased allocation of resources for program coordinator and manager responsibilities.
MARS provides educational services designed to motivate males to take an equal part in pregnancy and infection prevention. To promote male participation, institutional awareness should be raised within family planning clinics to improve access to sexual/reproductive health services for males in general, as well as those recently released from correctional institutions.
At the policy level, federal reimbursement programs for reproductive health services to males are currently limited to family planning services (e.g. contraception). However, men's sexual health needs include services that are not reimbursable under current definitions (e.g. HIV/STI screenings, testicular health). This means that well-intentioned, proactive men with limited financial resources face expensive medical costs to be responsible sexual partners.
Impact
Describe your impact in one sentence, commenting on both the individual and community levels.
Unintended pregnancies and HIV/STI infections are reduced when participants challenge stereotypical gender roles and gain critical knowledge and skills required to make healthy sexual choices.
What impact has your work achieved to date?
An independent reviewer has evaluated the MARS Program sexual health curriculum and individual sexual health consultations. Evaluation results indicate MARS positively impacts young men.
Pre-post survey findings from the classroom sexual health curriculum evaluation show that participants have statistically significant increases in the following: 1) sexual health knowledge (STIs and birth control) and where to access free/confidential sexual health services; 2) attitudes about healthy relationships and the benefits of abstinence; 3) self-efficacy communicating with a partner about abstinence, safe sex and healthy relationships; 4) self-efficacy refusing sex; and 5) self-efficacy buying condoms.
Males who participated in an individual sexual health consultation with a peer outreach worker completed a pre- and one-month follow-up survey. Findings from this analysis show that participants have statistically significant increases in the following: 1) frequency and comfort talking to partner(s) about healthy relationships and reproductive health; 2) sexual health knowledge; 3) attitudes toward birth control, condoms and abstinence; 4) attitudes about gender roles and contraceptive use; and 5) self-efficacy buying and using condoms.
Number of individuals served
MARS has served nearly 19,000 individuals through MARS sexual health classroom sessions (8,200+), individual sexual health education sessions (645+) and targeted outreach (9,800+).
Community impact
Since MARS was initiated in 2000, the community response has been overwhelmingly positive. Professionals from a variety of fields (education, health, prevention, mental health, juvenile corrections), as well as parents and students alike, have recognized the importance of focused sexual health promotion efforts with young men. For too long the burden of pregnancy and STI infection prevention was assigned to young women and the possibility of young men contributing to solutions was minimized. MARS takes a refreshing, holistic approach which promotes the philosophy that men and women can play equal roles in safeguarding their sexual/reproductive health. This approach is embraced by the communities in which MARS is implemented.
Society at large
By challenging stereotypical ideas of masculinity and gender roles which contribute to sexual risk-taking among young men, MARS aims to transform a generation of young men into critical thinkers about society's ideas of what it means to "be a man". Armed with this awareness, young men also gain knowledge and skills necessary to be sexually healthy and have positive relationships with others. MARS strives for a society with gender-equity in sexual/reproductive health resulting in fewer unintended pregnancies and HIV/STI infections.
What measure do you use to gauge your impact and why?
MARS Program evaluation measures include 1) knowledge, attitudes and beliefs about healthy relationships, benefits of abstinence, partner responsibility, contraception and STIs; 2) self-efficacy communicating with a partner, buying and using condoms, and making sexual decisions; 3) perceptions of peer norms regarding condom use and contraception; 4) sexual behavior and behavior intentions (use of condoms/contraception; number of partners, use of alcohol/drugs prior to sex); and 5) use of sexual health services.
These are recognized measures for demonstrating program effectiveness in the field of prevention research.
This Entry is about (Issues)
Sustainability
How is your initiative currently being financed and how would you finance further expansion and/or replication?
MARS Program financial support varies among the Oregon counties in which it is implemented. Funding sources include a $1.2 million five-year federal grant from the Office of Family Planning (current funding expires 10/2008), as well as smaller grants from regional Offices of Family Planning (Title X Region X) (current funding expires 7/2008) and local foundations. Additionally, one county's African American STD Disparities Elimination Program funds MARS Program replication.
County health departments implementing MARS have developed an intergovernmental agreement which increases opportunities to leverage funding and coordinate grant writing efforts (anticipated in effect January 2008).
Plans for further expansion/replication are in place through a partnership with Oregon Department of Education HIV Prevention Education Program to target high risk males.
Additionally, efforts may be supported through fees for MARS services.
Provide information on your current finances and organization:
The Collaborative MARS Program (anticipated to be established in January 2008) includes MARS Programs in three Oregon counties: Benton, Deschutes and Jackson. Each program has different budgets. The Benton County program will serve as the "Lead Agency" and conduct the majority of administrative duties for the Collaborative MARS Program. It is also the primary grantee of the Office of Family Planning grant. Benton County has a budget of $207,000; Deschutes County has a budget of $28,500 and Jackson County has a budget of $31,000.
Sources of revenue are grants from the U.S. Office of Family Planning (100% for Benton County), regional Office of Family Planning (Title X Region X) (100% for Deschutes County; 85% for Jackson County) and local foundations (15% for Jackson County).
Staffing levels vary among counties. Benton County has 1.75 FTE, 6 paid student-interns (15-20 hrs/week), and 1 volunteer. Jackson County has .05 FTE and 4 paid student-interns. Deschutes County has 3 paid student-interns (coordinator time is in-kind).
Who are your potential partners and allies?
Partners in the proposed "MARS Behind Bars" initiative include the Oregon Youth Authority and county juvenile departments.
The Oregon Youth Authority is the state juvenile corrections agency. OYA incarcerates youth who cannot safely live in the community, and provides supervision and treatment opportunities to youth offenders throughout Oregon.
Locally, county juvenile departments provide a continuum of supervision and rehabilitation services to youth offenders.
The Public Health Department of Oregon State University will continue serve as the independent program evaluator.
Who are your potential investors?
The effectiveness of the MARS Program is valued and recognized by the Oregon Department of Education, Oregon Youth Authority, county juvenile departments, county health departments, school districts, Planned Parenthood of Southwestern Oregon, Oregon State University, and Southern Oregon University. Future partners include the University of Oregon, Portland State University Center for Healthy Inclusive Parenting and regional Planned Parenthood chapters. Future financial support will be sought from private foundation grants as well as the U.S. and Oregon state governments.
The Story
What is the origin of this innovation? Tell us your story.
The MARS Program was created in 2000 by Benton County Health Department to address the sexual and reproductive health needs specific to males in response to awareness that reproductive health services have historically targeted females. This focus has been successful in reducing teen pregnancy and some sexually transmitted infection rates. However, the United States continues to have epidemic proportions of unintended pregnancies and STIs, including HIV/AIDS. In order to affect the greatest impact, MARS founders recognized these social concerns must be addressed cooperatively and whole-heartedly by both genders.
There are compelling reasons to provide sexual and reproductive health services specifically for males: 1) MALES DON'T KNOW OR BELIEVE SERVICES ARE FOR THEM: Over the past 30 years, on average only 2-4% of Title X family planning clinic patients have been males (Department of Health and Human Services, 2003); 2) MEN WANT THE SERVICES: 90% of men want to know about ways to prevent pregnancy (EngenderedHealth FGD Findings, 2003); 3) MEN HAVE UNIQUE SEXUAL HEALTH NEEDS: Testicular cancer is the most common cancer among males age 20-35 years old (Guidelines for Male Sexual and Reproductive Health Services, 2005).
Addressing men's reproductive and sexual health needs benefits more than just the men we reach. MARS believes that if men's sexual health needs are met, the whole community will benefit. Men will gain awareness and responsibility for pregnancy and disease prevention. The incidence of unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections will be reduced, resulting in healthier and happier youth and communities.
Please provide a personal bio. Note this may be used in Changemakers marketing material.
Jackie Cupples has worked in the field of positive youth development for over 10 years in a variety of youth settings including summer camps and wilderness programs for at-risk youth, after school programs and prevention programs. Her efforts have focused on substance abuse prevention and treatment as well as the promotion of sexual health and teen pregnancy prevention. She has served as the MARS Program Coordinator in Benton County for the past two years.
 | 221 weeks agoMARS Behind Bars has been chosen as a finalist in Young Men at Risk: Transforming the Power of a Generation. |
