This year, the Center for Interdisciplinary Inquiry and Innovation in Sexual and Reproductive Health (Ci3) designed educational resources and tools to help young people process complex emotions and overcome health and healthcare barriers. Our storytelling, design, and game-based approaches informed our domestic and global research and policy agendas. Our work included:
Addressing Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health on a Larger Scale
Debuting Hello Options on National Television
Hello Options, developed by Ci3, is an all-in-one contraceptive counseling tool designed in collaboration with adolescents, healthcare providers, and peer educators. In June, Hello Options debuted on CBS’ America by Design, a competition series that highlights technology, innovations, and design breakthroughs that are changing society. More than four million viewers tuned in to the episode, and the tool ranked third out of 29 competitors. Watch the full episode.
Explore the tool and contact us to pre-order.
Frankly. Podcast Centering Young People’s Voices
In April, Ci3 launched Frankly., a six-episode podcast that explores the health and well-being of young people from the perspectives and lived experiences of young people living on Chicago’s South and West sides. Since its launch, the podcast has amassed more than 8,000 plays.
Read the Rebellious Magazine editorial story on this important conversation.
Listen to all podcast episodes and learn more about the Frankly. mixtapes, discussion guides that offer additional insights into the topics explored in each episode.
Connecting with Young People Through Research, Mentorship, and Engagement
Hexacago Health Academy 2.0
Hexacago Health Academy (HHA) 2.0 uses principles of game-based learning to increase awareness of STEM and health careers. The first cohort of 59 rising Chicago-area 11th and 12th graders participated in the intervention in July-December 2021. HHA 2.0 is supported by National Institutes of Health (NIH). Find out more about this NIH Science Education Award Program.
Kissa Kahani
In early August, we completed community-based testing of the Kissa Kahani intervention with 1,200 adolescents ages 12-16 in Uttar Pradesh, India. Read this Ci3 Kissa Kahani report for more information on how the intervention uses storytelling, design, and games to address family planning and gender-related biases. Kissa Kahani aims to address outcomes related to menstruation, family planning, street harassment, and gender-related attitudes.
Step Up
This past spring, 44 Chicago-area adolescents participated in Step Up, a digital game-based bystander intervention to mitigate the effects of bias and harassment in STEM and health fields. Step Up aims to have a positive impact on STEM/health career efficacy and bystander outcomes.
One participant shared, “A lot of people are being walked over when you see real scenarios like this, and… they’re not comfortable enough to speak up about it. But it really made a difference when someone does speak up about it and people support you.”
Read more about Step Up.
2020-21 Youth Advisory Council
In June, 12 Chicago high school students graduated from our Youth Advisory Council, a year-long program in which young people co-design interventions with Ci3 staff. This cohort helped to design a virtual reproductive justice game and supported several design and research projects.
This learning and collaborative space has led to further opportunities, such as using storytelling methods to address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and racial injustice. Youth Advisory Council members and rising Chicago high school students Myleena Webb and Arielle Warner published their stories from the Ci3 digital zine, This Ain’t It, in November. It was published in the Journal of Adolescent Health.
Learn more about our youth engagement framework and practices in this Ci3 brief.
Using Evidence-Based Research to Inform Policy
Supporting The Youth Health and Safety Act
In October, Ci3 contributed to evidence-based research, testimonies, and overall support to pass HB 370: The Youth Health and Safety Act, making it possible for young people to access abortion without barriers so they can have agency over their own bodies and futures.
Read our written testimony in support of HB 370.
Reproductive Healthcare Challenges for People Experiencing Homelessness
Ci3 fellow Jonah Klein-Barton examined mifepristone mailing and the challenges for people experiencing homelessness. Analysis was published in this Ci3 policy brief.
Addressing Comprehensive Sex Education in Illinois Schools
Ci3 Senior Policy Researcher Lee Hasselbacher, Frankly. Executive Producer Ireashia Bennett, and Ci3 Youth Council Member Geoviana Sinchi-Paucar addressed the importance of comprehensive sex education curriculum in Illinois schools and the importance of consent. Watch the full story.
New Research
In 2021, Ci3 published 11 studies in peer-reviewed journals including Contraception, Journal of Adolescent Health, and Journal of Adolescence and Youth.
Ci3 researchers found that Hello Options, a contraceptive decision aid, supports the provision of patient-centered care for adolescent and young adult patients in clinical settings.
Published in the Journal of Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology
Exploring gender-based norms in India, Ci3 designers and researchers developed and used a storytelling game to understand Indian adolescents’ experiences with gender.
Published in the International Journal of Adolescence and Youth
Ci3 researchers completed Adolescent X, a narrative-based study using story circles and body mapping to understand adolescent relationships between their social contexts and reproductive health. The study identified key themes such as safety, body-related concerns, and sources of coping and resilience.
Published in the journal Health Promotion Practice
The Ci3 Transmedia Collage project used arts-based methods to understand how a climate of structural violence has impacted the health and well-being of local Black adolescents. The fully text-based collage addresses life during the AIDS epidemic and the War on Drugs.
Published in the Journal of Adolescent Health
Using storytelling methods to address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and racial injustice, Youth Advisory Council members and rising Chicago high school students, Myleena Webb and Arielle Warner, published their stories from the Ci3 digital zine, This Ain’t It, in November.
Their stories were published in the Journal of Adolescent Health
A recent study on the implementation of Medicaid coverage for abortion in Illinois described lessons learned from abortion providers’ perspectives and made recommendations for improvements.
Published in the journal Contraception
Ci3 researchers collaborated on a study using a national survey to identify reproductive healthcare denials experienced by individuals with employer-sponsored health insurance, which found that patients often do not learn of care denials until showing up for their care.
Published in the journal Preventive Medicine Reports
Lee Hasselbacher and Dr. Amber Truehart co-authored an editorial advocating for the repeal of laws requiring parental involvement in abortion decisions, building on years of evidence documenting harms.
Published in the Journal of Adolescent Health
A recent study assessed the relationship of parity and prior cesarean delivery to levonorgestrel 52 mg intrauterine system (IUS) expulsion during the first 72 months of use.
Published in the journal of Contraception
Ci3 in the Community
Affiliated faculty and researchers presented posters at this year’s Society of Family Planning Annual Conference, highlighting the following findings:
- More than half of Illinois contraceptive providers surveyed expressed interest in medication abortion training.
- Providers offering contraceptive care via telemedicine described positive experiences, but also identified ways to improve patient access, quality of care, and sustainability.
- Obesity is associated with increased expulsion risk with levonorgestrel 52 mg IUS use.
- Patients and providers delivering in Catholic hospitals identified barriers to postpartum contraception and counseling including lack of access to care, minimal transparency on restricted services, and provider distress in denying care.
At this year’s Youth Tech Health conference, Ci3 team members presented on:
- Design and curriculum development of the Kissa Kahani intervention.
- Our Step Up digital game prototype and results from Phase I playtests.
- Episode 3 of the Frankly. podcast: Filling the Gaps in Sex Ed.
Other notable community conversations include the following:
Design Director Amanda Geppert presented to students at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health on co-designing new approaches to adolescent sexual and reproductive healthcare. She returned in May to critique students’ final projects.
Executive Director Dr. Crystal Tyler participated in the All Above All Research Table Webinar Series entitled “Reshaping our Collective Agenda: The Priority Roadmap for Policy-Ready Contraceptive Research.” Dr. Tyler shared her expertise in contraceptive research alongside leaders from Bold Futures and the Coalition to Expand Contraceptive Access.
Lee Hasselbacher also participated in the All Above All Research Table Webinar Series entitled “How can Medicaid policy respond to shifts in abortion provision and access?” Lee shared research insights alongside a panel of experts from Ibis Reproductive Health, Hope Clinic for Women, National Health Law Program, and Planned Parenthood Advocates of Oregon.
Dr. Crystal Tyler and Youth Engagement Lead Ailea Stites led a webinar discussion, “Adolescent Reproductive Health Equity,” for the Maryland Optimal Adolescent Health Program. They provided an overview of adolescent health initiatives and shared ways to incorporate equity-based approaches into adolescent health research, with case studies from current Ci3 projects.
Ci3 designers Amanda Geppert and Emily Moss led an interactive workshop on prototyping and testing assumptions for the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation Summer Accelerator. Accelerator teams were accepted through a competitive selection process and are spending their summer building key elements of their ventures and validating assumptions around their market or customers.
Ailea Stites and Game Lab Director Mason Arrington conducted a breakout session at the National Institutes of Health’s Science Education Partnership Award Conference entitled “Lineage: Co-Creation of a Game-Based Educational Intervention with Young People Through the Lens of Reproductive Justice.” Lineage is a Ci3-developed game that focuses on STEM/health professionals who played a part in addressing medical and science injustices throughout history. Read more about Lineage.
Co-Founder of Ci3’s Game Changer Chicago Design Lab and Professor in the Department of English Language and Literature at the University of Chicago, Dr. Patrick Jagoda participated in the first episode of the Video Games Mini-Series. In the episode, Dr. Jagoda discusses game studies and the various reasons people have become interested in game studies research; from mainstream video games to mobile games to eSports. This is part of UChicago’s Hong Kong Campus’ video game mini-series.
Community Recognition
This year, the Ci3 Communications team was awarded University of Chicago Campus Communicators Best-in-Class Award for its “Making Equity Matter in Adolescent Healthcare” integrated campaign.
Dr. Crystal Tyler joined the Society of Family Planning’s Board of Directors in May. She joins healthcare leaders for their commitment to advancing equitable contraception and abortion informed by science.
Ci3 Advancements
Lee Hasselbacher will serve as the Interim Executive Director of Ci3. Lee will continue to work closely with Dr. Melissa Gilliam as we identify a new Executive Director. Additional information on the Executive Director position can be found here.
