Exciting New App for Youth in Texas

The Re:MIX mobile app enables adolescents and young adults to find quality health services and providers that can best fulfill their needs.

Young people may be more likely to seek out health services at facilities perceived as being “youth friendly,” but how can adolescents and young adults learn which facilities are best suited to meeting their needs? Thanks to EngenderHealth and our U.S. Programs team, youth in Austin, Texas, now have access to a mobile application designed to help youth find and rate health services in the local community. The information provided in the app is curated by youth themselves, ensuring that the facilities are indeed youth-friendly.

A new app, called Re:MIX, is an extension of EngenderHealth’s Re:MIX teen sexual health education program. It was created in collaboration with Youth Tech Health, an organization based in Oakland, California, that develops technological solutions to advance the health of youth and young adults.

Peer Educators from the Re:MIX program and youth in partner organizations have been instrumental in vetting and selecting health care providers based on a set of youth-friendly service needs and criteria, emphasizing quality, cost, privacy, and inclusivity. Focus groups with high school youth across Austin were also critical in further refining the design and functionality of the mobile application. A variety of health services are listed in the app, to ensure that youth have access to many options based on a spectrum of health needs.

The goal is to empower young people to visit these community-based services and ensure that they are receiving youth-friendly, inclusive, and quality care at each visit. The more youth rate their experiences, the more informed the community will be about youth-friendly health linkages and opportunities to continue to enhance services for young people. Julieann Maciel, a former Peer Educator with Re:MIX, explained the need for access to youth-friendly services best when she said, “There are questions you want to ask that you don’t want to ask in front of your parents. Having a medical professional who will listen to what you have to say and what your concerns are, and not just what your parents’ concerns are, is important. Their job is to advocate for their patients.”

For more information about the Re:MIX app, contact USPrograms@engenderhealth.org. In addition, attendees of the YTH Live conference in San Francisco in May 2018 will have an opportunity to learn more about the Re:MIX app, as well as other youth health technology projects.