This document discusses Planned Parenthood's chat/text program for providing sexual health information and support to teens and young adults. The program launched in 2010 and now averages over 11,000 conversations per month. It aims to reach youth, especially African American and Latino youth, in urgent moments after unprotected sex to provide information on emergency contraception, pregnancy testing, STIs, and other topics. Over 75% of users are between 15-24 years old and most are female. Post-interaction surveys find high rates of users finding the conversations helpful and planning to take recommended next steps. An efficacy trial is planned to evaluate the program's impact.

1. Chat/Text: Answering questions in
urgent moments after unprotected sex
Deborah S. Levine, Dir. Online Health Education
Planned Parenthood Federation of America

2. CHAT/TEXT EXCERPT
Sara: Welcome to our live chat service. How may I help you today?
FemaleTeen: I wanted to know if you think it's possible that I might be
pregnant.
Sara: Can you tell me a little bit about why you think you might be pregnant?
FemaleTeen: I had unprotected sex on the 10th,and they boy told me he came
inside me. I took a test on the 11th and it said I wasn't. But could I still be
because I found out sperm can live inside you.
Sara: Well, you're at the right place to get help with your questions. I just want
to ask you a question, are you on any form of birth control?
FemaleTeen: No.
Sara: Ok. First of all, you can only take a pregnancy test after your period is
late. If you took a test the day after, you took it too early. You will have to
wait until your next period is due, and if it is late, take a test. However, there
is such a thing as emergency contraception which can be taken up to 5
days after unprotected sex. You are still within the timeframe, so if you get
EC within 120 hours of the unprotected sex that would be the next best
step.

3. WHY CHAT and TEXT?
• Provides access to teens and young adults when they
are in urgent moments after unprotected sex
• Takes advantage of young people’s preferences for
digital communication methods
• Enables live interaction
• Can use communication practices that encourage behavior change
• Can help lower anxiety levels which can be barriers to action and
health seeking behaviors

4. PROGRAM DETAILS
• ‘Moments of urgency’ focus areas:
• Emergency contraception
• Birth control failure
• Pregnancy testing
• Abortion
• STI testing
• Target audience: youth 15-24, particularly African-
American and Latino youth

5. PROGRAM DETAILS
• Launched in September 2010
• Currently offered 91 hours per week
• 317,875 total conversations as of 2/28/14
• Avg. 11,081 conversations per month in last year
7 days/week Eastern Time Pacific Time
Mon-Thurs. 9 am – 12 am 6 am – 9 pm
Friday 9 am – 10 pm 6 am – 7 pm
Saturday 9 am – 5 pm 6 am – 2 pm
Sunday 2 pm – 12 am 11 am – 9 pm

6. PROMOTION

7. PROMOTION

8. REACHING TARGET
AUDIENCE (February 2014)

9. GENDER
Gender N Percent (%)
Male 1,201 12.1%
Female 8,639 87.4%
Transgender 47 0.5%
• Chat/text users are
overwhelmingly
female.

10. AGE
Age N
Percent
(%)
14 or
younger
260 2.6%
15-19 4,427 44.8%
20-24 3,019 30.5%
25-29 1,218 12.3%
30 or older 967 9.8%
75.3%
• Approximately 75% of
chat/text users are
between 15-24 years
old.

11. RACE
37.1%
• Over 1/3 of
total chat/text
users are
Black, Latino or
Black or Latino
Mixed.
Race/Ethnicity N Percent (%)
Am. Indian/Alaska
Native
55 0.6%
Asian/Pacific Islander 921 9.4%
Black/African-American 1,357 13.9%
Black or Latino Mixed 480 4.9%
Hispanic/Latino 1,789 18.3%
Mixed/Multi-Ethnic 111 1.1%
Other (Non-Specified) 151 1.5%
White 4,903 50.2%

12. POST-TEST MEASURES
(February 2014)

13. POST-TEST MEASURES
• Intention: 93.8% - reported that they agree or strongly
agree that they plan to take the next steps discussed
during the conversation.
• Helpfulness: 86.7% - reported that they agree or strongly
agree that the conversation was helpful.
• Satisfaction: 90.7% - reported that they agree or strongly
agree that they liked using chat/text for this purpose.
• Health center referrals: Planned Parenthood Health
Center contact information was provided in 64% of
conversations.

14. EFFICACY TRIAL
• Randomized control trial comparing those who use Chat/
Text to those who visit the Planned Parenthood website
only
• Young women, 15-24 who have been sexually active in
the past 30 days, and have not previously used Chat/Text
• Partnering with the Center for Latino Adolescent and
Family Health at Silver School of Social Work at New
York University
• Enrolling participants starting in September 2014

15. CONTACT
Deborah S. Levine
Director Online Health Education
deborah.levine@ppfa.org