Por Ahí Dicen
Por Ahí Dicen: Evaluating the Effectiveness of a Spanish Media PSAs Campaign to Promote Puerto Rican Mother-Child Communication about Sexuality and Sexual Health Protection
The primary purpose of Por Ahí Dicen is to highlight the experience of Puerto Rican mothers’ communication with their children regarding sexuality and sexual health, as well as the environmental and social factors that could be shaping this communication.
Our main goals are (1) to develop a theory-based, culturally responsive, Spanish media campaign to target Puerto Rican mother-child communication about sexuality and sexual health protection, and (2) to implement and evaluate the effectiveness of the media campaign developed on Puerto Rican mothers’ outcome expectations, self-efficacy, and mother-child communication regarding sexuality and sexual health protection.
Por Ahí Dicen is a research project of The Mauricio Gaston Institute for Latino Community Development and Public Policy, in collaboration with the Puerto Rican Cultural Center (PRCC). It’s one of the projects of the Center of Health Equity Intervention Research (CHEIR) funded by the National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) #P60MD006912. CHEIR’s mandate is to (1) develop and test new interventions to eliminate health disparities; (2) train the next generation of health equity researchers; and (3) promote the engagement of under-represented populations in education and research.
Community Advisory Committee Members, Ivette Cruz, Zaida Luna, Marilu Medina, Tamara Medina, Brenda Mulero, Melissa Ramos, Yanitza Rivera, and David Silva.
Por Ahí Dicen Research Team: Principal Investigator, Maria Idalí Torres. Co-Investigator, Phillip Granberry. Research Associates, Melissa Colón and Sarah Rustan.
UMass Boston & UMass Amherst Graduate Research Assistants: Mayara Fontes, Iesha Ramos, Ana María Sánchez, Ethan Schein and Paloma Suarez. Undergraduate Research Assistants: Joseli Alonzo, Luis Banuelo, Daniela Bravo, Ivelisse Caraballo, Norma Fuentes, Josibel Garcia, Natalie Gonzalez, Sophia Grim, Eriliza Guerrero, Tómas Hernandez, Mario Hernandez-Santiago, Nátalia Medina, Ruth Medina, Luis Natal, Aída Palencia, Beninson Peña, Carolina Ramírez, Kianny Ramos, Lina Rosario, and Karol Zapata.
PRCC Research Team: Ivette Cruz, Marílu Medina, Melissa Ramos, Tamara Medina, Emanuel Pumarejo, Yanitza Rivera, Luis Angél Melendez, Yamilette Feliciano, Kiara Grajalis, Claríbel Bruno, Natasha Rodriguez, Anita Ramos, and Yashira Rossi.
Administration: Keisha Dixon
For more information call (413) 224-8333 or contact María Idalí Torres
Media Campaign
Cards
Newspaper Insert
Bus Banner
Public Service Announcements (television)
Public Service Announcements (radio)
Check the spots at UMass Boston's SoundCloud
News & Updates
2016
November: the article Influential Factors of Puerto Rican Mother–Child Communication About Sexual Health Topics, by Maria Idalí Torres, Phillip Granberry, Sharina Person, Jeroan Allison, Milagros Rosal and Sarah Rustan, is published in the Maternal and Child Health Journal.
March: the article Developing Research and Community Literacies to Recruit Latino Researchers and Practitioners to Address Health Disparities, by Phillip Granberry, María Idalí Torres, Jeroan Allison, Milagros Rosal, Sarah Rustan, Melissa Colón, Mayara Fontes, Ivettte Cruz and The Puerto Rican Cultural Center Research Team, is published in the Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities.
2015
Media coverage (in English): 'Por Ahí Dicen' Spanish-language campaign encourages mothers to discuss sexual health with their children
Media coverage (in Spanish): La campaña 'Por Ahí Dicen’ alienta a las madres discutir la salud sexual con sus hijos
February 27 at UMass Center at Springfield: Por Ahí Dicen: Increasing Puerto Rican Mother-Child Communication About Sexual Health - A Community Conversation. Puerto Rican mothers shared their experience and challenges in discussing the topic of sex to their children. The dialogue included a report (distributed at the event) on the results of a community survey conducted in Springfield, and a pre-screening of Public Service Announcements to launch the 2015 Por Ahí Dicen multimedia campaign. In collaboration with UMass Worcester, Center for Health Equity Intervention Research (CHEIR), UMass Center at Springfield, Verdant Multicultural Media, Telemundo Hartford Springfield, Davidson Media Group and El Sol Latino.