In 2022, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) awarded Altarum a grant to continue its leadership of the National Coalition for Sexual Health (NCSH) through 2027. Then in 2023, Altarum joined the CDC in celebrating the NCSH’s 10th anniversary and the anniversary of their ten-year partnership. Members of the fast-growing coalition, with over 200 in 2023, collaborate to develop evidence-based tools and resources that “promote awareness and acceptance of sexual health as a core element of overall health and well-being across the lifespan.” The NCSH focuses on encouraging and normalizing open dialogue about sexual health between partners, parents and children, healthcare providers and patients, and within communities.
In 2023, Altarum began work on two supplemental projects, building on the strengths and previous work of the NCSH. This work explores two important topical areas of research and communication:
- Creating and implementing a national communications campaign to motivate young adults to talk openly about sexual health and relationship topics
- Testing communication and messaging concepts related to mpox, a disease caused by infection with the mpox virus, and sexual health care among priority populations, the public, and healthcare providers
Adolescence can be a confusing time for young adults with regard to understanding sexual health and relationships and engaging in healthy, open conversations around these topics. By age 18, 55% of adolescents have engaged in sexual activity or intercourse. Despite these statistics, only 29 states and DC mandate sex education in schools, and 13 of these states do not require the content to be evidence-informed, medically accurate, and complete.
The CDC and the NCSH members recognized a need to gain a better understanding of the challenges and barriers US adolescents face in relationships and in their sexual health, and the modes of communications they use to talk about these topics. In response, the CDC asked Altarum to lead a research initiative to gain insights into these issues. Altarum and the NCSH, with assistance from Michaels Opinion Research, conducted a national online survey of over 1,200 young adults, ages 18 to 26, to gather representative evidence to inform future communications. In 2024, the insights from this analysis will be used to create a communications campaign to motivate young adults and equip them with the skills they need to talk openly with their partners about sexual health and general relationship topics. Altarum established a Young Adult Advisory Group (YAAG) to provide feedback and guidance on concepts and tools for this campaign. Input from the YAAG will help shape the direction of the campaign from the beginning stages until it is launched.
The CDC also approached Altarum and the NCSH in 2023 to ask for assistance researching and leading the development of communication materials to help reduce the burden of mpox on disproportionately affected communities after mpox outbreaks in 2022. Altarum established the Mpox Engagement Team (MET) to research public and provider knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors related to mpox. The team’s analyses were used to craft educational communication campaigns around mpox to fill knowledge gaps. Those messages began undergoing market testing in the last months of 2023, to determine which will best resonate with different stakeholders.
Megan Higdon, MPH, Program Director for Sexual and Reproductive Health at Altarum and co-director of the National Coalition for Sexual Health, gives credit for the program’s success, in part, to Altarum’s “talented team of research and communications analysts, who collaborate with coalition members and the CDC alike to understand how we can best meet the needs of both the public as well as health care providers. We accomplish this by gathering and analyzing data and creating practical evidence-based resources and tools that promote positive and open dialogue about sexual health.”
We are pleased to continue partnering with the CDC in leading the NCSH and working with their many members and volunteers to respond to and advance communications and support around critical sexual health and well-being initiatives. Over the past ten years, we have witnessed enormous growth both in participation and engagement in the program and in the NCSH’s impact on providing support and education around sexual health.