197. Empowering Parents for Wellness in Shelter (Empower): Development and Implementation of a Health Empowerment Program for Parenting Homeless Youth

Approximately 700,000 U.S. adolescents (aged 13-17) face homelessness annually. Among them, 10% of females and 3% of males are either pregnant or parenting, posing a multi-generational threat to health. Yet, there are few programs to improve health among parenting homeless youth and their children. To address this gap, an urban youth shelter launched a new transitional housing program for parenting youth with programming to improve parent and child health, and reduce unplanned subsequent pregnancies. The purpose of this community-engaged study was to adapt and implement an evidence-supported health empowerment program for pregnant and parenting youth living in shelter, and assess the program’s feasibility and acceptability.