Christie Vilsack and Teresa Downing-Matibag Partner to Promote Healthy Relationships on Campus

This past April, over fifty Iowa State students gathered together in Eaton Hall dormitory for a “Healthy Intimate Relationships” workshop with Iowa’s former first lady Christie Vilsack.  Invited to Iowa State by the departments of sociology, psychology, and the Thielen Student Health Center, Mrs. Vilsack hosted a 3-hour workshop on promoting healthy relationships in today’s rapidly changing dating culture.. 

Vilsack is currently the executive director of the Iowa Initiative, based in downtown Des Moines.  The Iowa Initiative is a statewide program that aims to reduce the high rate of unintended pregnancies among Iowa women ages 18-30 through networking, research and public outreach.  Indeed, current research supports the need for such programming: Half of all pregnancies in the U.S. are unintended and Iowa ranks 48th in the country for access to family planning services.  Research also demonstrates that 8,000 abortions in Iowa are averted each year because family planning services help to prevent unintended pregnancies.

Iowa State assistant professor of sociology, Teresa Downing-Matibag, approached the Iowa Initiative in 2008, with the notion of a partnering with them to promote healthy intimate relationships on the ISU campus.  Since then, Mrs. Vilsack has visited her Sociology of Intimate Relationships every semester to spread the word about the importance of advocating for young adults’ sexual, reproductive, and relationship health.  Professor David Vogel, associate professor of psychology, also joined the project in 2009 as a student co-advisor and research collaborator.

“In partnering with the Iowa Initiative, we are hoping to advance the goal of getting students to advocate for healthy intimate relationships on campus,” Downing-Matibag said. ”We are also raising awareness about the Iowa Initiative and about the importance of providing reproductive health and family planning services to young adult women and their partners.”

The workshop consisted of a number of table topics that were prepared by student volunteers from Downing-Matibag’s Intimate Relationships class.  Students talked about their ideas for addressing issues such as spirituality and relationships, communication about relationship expectations, date rape, unintended pregnancies, alcohol and sexual risk-taking, sexualities, unintended pregnancies, and sexually transmissible infections, including HIV/AIDS.  Once students addressed the key areas, a student representative from each group presented their group’s advocacy ideas.

After the workshop, Downing-Matibag and a group of undergraduate student volunteers compiled all of the information they received and began analyzing the participants’ responses to the topics of interest.  Downing-Matibag, Vogel, and the student volunteers are currently developing “service-based internships” based on the participants’ ideas for campus-based advocacy..  Internships will range from grant writing, research, web site development, blogging, and community partnerships.  The service-based internships will support Iowa State University’s recent designation by the Carnegie Foundation as a Carnegie Engaged institution, said Dowing-Matibag

“We are founding a new student group on campus called ‘Relationships on Campus, or R.O.C.’” Downing-Matibag says.  R.O.C. hopes to educate students about healthy intimate and sexual relationships, namely relationships that are characterized by respect, an understanding of each other’s needs and expectations, and health-promoting behaviors.

Call Downing-Matibag at 515-294-2493 for more information about R.O.C., including how to contribute to its efforts to promote healthy intimate relationships on campus.  Information on the Iowa Initiative may be found on their web site at www.iowainitiative.com.