Assessment of the Feasibility of Barber-Led Sexual Education for African-American Adolescent Males.

This study explored the feasibility of a sexual health promotion barbershop program in the African-American urban areas of a large mid-southern city. A cross-sectional descriptive design was used with a random survey. The sample consisted of 56 barbers and adult community patrons of sample barbershops. A questionnaire assessed current barbershop topics, current opinions of barber reliability, and the desire for participation in a barber-led health promotion intervention. Barbers unanimously supported the needfor such a program and reported willingness to participate in training to provide evidence-based information to teens. Findings suggested that a barber-led health promotion program would be facilitated by the facts that barbers serve as mentors, barbers resemble father figures, and the level of barber-client trust is high. Barriers consisted offinancial constraints, time constraints, and lack of parental consent. Future studies should focus on program development, focusing on comprehensive health promotion activities in addition to sexual health.