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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2023 May 18.
Published in final edited form as: Am J Sex Educ. 2021 Aug 3;17(1):19–56. doi: 10.1080/15546128.2021.1953658

Appendix B.

Teens TalkHealth moderation guidelines.

(1) Offer thought-provoking, yet specific prompts to continue discussion.
(2) Highlight adolescents’ personal strengths.
(3) Praise self-awareness and when applicable, ask for additional information about thoughts and feelings that drive decision-making and behavior.
(4) Provide motivation (explicit rationales for engagement in health protective behavior) and cognitive-behavioral skills (explicit strategies to engage in health protective behavior) whenever possible.
(5) Reframe and challenge risk-promoting statements – try to acknowledge or validate the essence of what has been said so that adolescents will be open to ‘hearing’ a caution against risk.
(6) Empathize with stressors (acknowledge difficulty) and when applicable, provide cognitive-behavioral skills for coping.
(7) Emphasize adolescents’ autonomy and choice with respect to behavior – foster a sense of agency.
(8) Challenge the idea that it is possible to completely avoid negative experiences when choosing to engage in risk.
(9) Encourage adolescents to think about how past negative experiences can inform healthy decision-making in the future.
(10) Encourage adolescents to plan ahead – foster a sense of intentionality.