The DC Network for Expectant and Parenting Teens (DCNEXT!) was a collective innovation network that brought together young parents, healthcare organizations, government partners, and other stakeholders together to promote the health and wellbeing of young parents (1). Out of this collaboration grew the “context team,” a cohort of adolescent and young adult parents with lived experience of navigating teen parenthood in DC. In comparison to “content experts” who have advanced degrees in a specific subject matter, these young people are “context experts,” who have lived experience of the subject matter, in this case teen parenthood. 

For the last year, I have partnered with the context team members to provide education on basic research methods and research ethics, with the hopes of building capacity for further youth engagement in academic research, program implementation, and policy-making. During monthly sessions, we explored topics such as randomized control trials, historical harms in research and institutional review boards, dissemination and implementation of research findings, and health disparities in maternal infant health outcomes. 

Our sessions culminated in creation of a research agenda for areas of further exploration within the realm of teen parenting. One key area for further research identified by the context team members was exploring the social determinants of health and understanding why teens do or do not use certain resources, and to test innovative approaches to improve resource utilization. 

In DC, there are high levels of unmet social determinants of health needs within the expectant and parenting teen population. In 2023, DCNEXT! completed a survey of 385 young parents in the district, and survey participants reported high rates of economic burden, with 82% reporting suffering financially. Almost a third (29.9%) reported experiencing homelessness in the past year, and more than half (57.9%) reported their families didn’t consistently have enough to eat. 18.2% reported unmet childcare needs, and only 19.2% of respondents reported that all their basic resource needs were met. For every additional unmet need, participants had a 22% less odds of “thriving” in terms of overall wellbeing (2).

One social safety net for teen parents–child care subsidies–support young parents’ ability to attend school or work outside the home, and teen parents struggling to make ends meet would likely meet eligibility criteria. However, taking days off from school to take the bus to a community agency, finding supporting documentation for proof of income, and filling out complex paperwork were identified by context team members as huge barriers to teen enrollment (3).

Recently, in part due to feedback from young people with lived experience, the District updated regulations to make childcare subsidies more easily accessible for parenting youth through $0 copays for teen parents, exemption from work and school requirements, and decreased paperwork requirements (4). These are important steps in the right direction, and further investigation is needed to determine the extent to which these policy changes have made it easier for teen parents to access needed resources. 

As academic researchers, public health program designers, and policy-makers, we should work to collaborate with individuals with lived experience in order to ensure that our study or program is appropriate and has the best chance of meeting the needs of the population. With appropriate “context expert” guidance, we can better support parenting teens by collecting data that is relevant to their wellbeing and identifying key policy changes to help them to thrive.