Be Proud! Be Responsible! - INACTIVE

Inactive Reason
This program is inactive because it has evidence of favorable impacts that is more than 20 years old. It no longer meets the inclusion criteria for the TPPER.
Developers
Loretta Sweet Jemmott, Ph.D., RN, F.A.A.N.; John B. Jemmott III, Ph.D.; and Konstance A. McCaffree, Ph.D.
Program Summary
Be Proud! Be Responsible! is a five hour intervention (delivered in six fifty-minute modules), designed to modify behaviors and build knowledge, understanding, and a sense of responsibility regarding STD/HIV risk in vulnerable youth. The intervention aims to affect knowledge, beliefs, and intentions related to condom use and sexual behaviors such as initiation and frequency of intercourse.
Intended Population
Be Proud! Be Responsible! was designed for diverse populations of youth, ranging in age from 13 to 18 years. The program was evaluated with mostly African American adolescents, ages 11-14.
Program Setting

The program is designed to be implemented in a variety of settings, including schools or youth-serving community-based organizations. It was evaluated in a community-based setting.

Contact and Availability Information

Program Contact Information
Email: sales@etr.org
Phone: (800) 321-4407
Website: https://www.etr.org/ebi/programs/be-proud-be-responsible/

Training Contact Information 
Kelly Gainor, M.Ed.
ebptraining@etr.org  
Website: https://www.etr.org/ebi/programs/be-proud-be-responsible/

Sample of Curriculum Available for Review Prior to Purchase
Yes
Languages Available
English
Monitoring and Evaluation Tools
Monitoring and evaluation tools available
Yes
Monitoring and evaluation tool usage required
No
Information about available monitoring and evaluation tools (if applicable)

ETR offers monitoring and evaluation tools, including pre- and post-tests and a curriculum fidelity log. The fidelity logs can be used to document how much of each module was completed and to give educators a place to comment on their delivery of any of the modules.

Program Components and Core Components

Last updated in 2024

The data presented on this page reflect responses from the program’s developer or distributor to a program component checklist that asked them to report on the individual components within their TPP program. The same program component checklist was sent to the developer or distributor of every active TPP program with evidence of effectiveness. The program component table provides information on seven types of program components including content, delivery mechanism, dosage, staffing, format, context, and intended population characteristics; whether the component was present or optional in the program; whether the component is considered to be core to the program; and the lesson number or activity where the component can be found in the program.

In the drop-down menu below, under “Has component,” there are four options that indicate a component as present in the program: (1) “Yes” indicates that the component is present in at least one version of the program (whether that be the program version that was evaluated, the current version, or both versions); (2) “Yes (both versions)” indicates that the component is present in both the evaluated version of the program and the current version of the program; (3) “Yes (current version)” indicates that the component is present in the current, but not the evaluated, version of the program; and (4) “Yes (evaluated version)” indicates that the component is present in the evaluated version of the program, only. Note that for dosage components, the dosage itself is described in the Notes when available.

Some of the components identified are noted as core components of the evidence-based program, but this does not necessarily mean that these components have been rigorously tested and show evidence of effectiveness. Most often developers denoted components as core based on theory or experience in the field. Click here for the list of evidence-based components.

For more details about program components, refer to the FAQ page.

Category Component Core Component Component present Notes Lesson number(s) / activities where present
Content School engagement No No
Content Anatomy/physiology No No
Content Other
Content Volunteering/civic engagement No No
Content Spirituality No No
Content Morals/values No Yes (both versions) Module 1, Activity E (43)
Content Identity development No No
Content Social support/capital No No
Content Social influence/actual vs. perceived social norms Yes Yes (both versions) Module 1, Activity E (43)
Content Social competence No No
Content Parenting skills No No
Content Normative beliefs Yes Yes (both versions) Module 1, Activity A (29), Activity E (43)
Content Leadership No No
Content Gender roles No No
Content Gender identity No No
Content Cultural values Yes Yes (both versions) Module 1, Activity E (43)
Content Connections with trusted adults No No
Content Conflict resolution/social problem solving Yes Yes (both versions) Module 8, All Activities (116)
Content Communication skills Yes Yes (both versions) Module 8, All Activities (116)
Content Child development No No
Content Boundary setting/refusal skills Yes Yes (both versions) Module 8, All Activities (116)
Content Substance use cessation No No
Content Substance use - Other drugs No No
Content Substance use - Alcohol No No
Content Substance use - Abstinence No No
Content Brain development and substance use No No
Content Vocational/skills training No No
Content Supplemental academic services No No
Content Graduating from high school No No
Content College preparation No No
Content Alternative schooling No No
Content Self-regulation No No
Content Self-esteem No No
Content Self-efficacy/empowerment Yes Yes (both versions) Module 8, All Activities (116)
Content Resilience No No
Content Risk of STIs and Pregnancy Yes Yes (both versions) Module 1, Activity D (37), Activity E (43); Module 3, All Activities (61), Module 4, All Activities (77)
Content STIs - Screening Yes Yes (both versions) Only HIV Module 1, Activity D (37)
Content STIs - Prevention Yes Yes (both versions) Module 3, Activity C (66); Module 5, All Activities (92)
Content STIs - Information No No Only HIV
Content Sexual risk reduction Yes Yes (both versions) Module 1, Activity D (37), Activity E (43); Module 2, Activity C (52); Module 3, All Activities (61); Module 5, All Activities (92)
Content Sexual risk discontinuation Yes Yes (both versions) Module 1, Activity D (37), Activity E (43); Module 2, Activity C (52); Module 3, All Activities (61)
Content Sexual risk avoidance Yes Yes (current version) Module 1, Activity D (37), Activity E (43); Module 2, Activity C (52); Module 3, All Activities (61)
Content Sexual orientation No No
Content Personal vulnerability Yes Yes (both versions) Module 8, All Activities (116)
Content Contraception - Pills, patches, rings, and shots No Optional Appendix A (209)
Content Contraception - Condoms Yes Yes (both versions) Module 5, All Activities (92)
Content Motivational interviewing No No
Content Contraception - Long-acting reversible contraceptives No Optional Appendix A (209)
Content Contraception - Other No Optional Appendix A (209)
Content Puberty/development No Optional Appendix A (180)
Program Objectives

Be Proud! Be Responsible! aims to help participants change behaviors that place them at risk for HIV and other STDs, delay the initiation of sex among sexually inexperienced youth, reduce unprotected sex among sexually active youth, and help youth make proud and responsible decisions about their sexual behaviors.

The program seeks to achieve these objectives by:

  • Increasing participant knowledge about HIV, AIDS and other STDs
  • Affecting participant beliefs in value of safer sex and abstinence
  • Increasing confidence in ability to negotiate safer sex and to use condoms correctly, improve condom use and negotiation skills
  • Improving intentions to practice safer sex
Program Content
Be Proud! Be Responsible! consists of six modules, on the following topics:
  • Module 1: Introduction to HIV and AIDS
  • Module 2: Building Knowledge about HIV
  • Module 3: Understanding Vulnerability to HIV Infection
  • Module 4: Attitudes and Beliefs about HIV, AIDS, and Safer Sex
  • Module 5: Building Condom Use Skills
  • Module 6: Building Negotiation and Refusal Skills
The curriculum's core content consists of:
  • HIV, etiology, transmission, and prevention
  • Prevention strategies – negotiation, condom use, problem solving

The six session curriculum addresses the following types of core behavioral beliefs and outcome expectancies:

  • Goals and Dreams Beliefs: The belief that unprotected sex can interfere with one's goals and dreams for an education and career. In Session 1, participants engage in a goals and dreams activity and discuss obstacles to their goals and dreams. Having unprotected sex is listed and discussed as an obstacle. This belief is also incorporated throughout the curriculum.
  • Prevention Beliefs: The belief that condoms can reduce the risk of sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS. This belief is incorporated throughout the curriculum.
  • Partner Reaction Beliefs: The belief that one's boyfriend/girlfriend will not approve of condom use and will react negatively to it. This belief may prevent a person from negotiating condom use. In Sessions 5 and 6, participants learn and practice how to use negotiation and refusal skills to communicate with their partners about safer sex.
  • Hedonistic Beliefs: The belief that condom use interferes with sexual pleasure. For example, many people believe that condoms reduce physical sensations during sexual activity and ruin the mood. Therefore, they are less likely to use condoms during sexual intercourse. In Sessions 5 and 6, youth learn that sex is still fun and pleasurable when a condom is used, and are taught how to incorporate this belief into role-play scenarios. 
Program Methods
The program is delivered through small group discussions and culturally appropriate exercises, brainstorming, videos, games, and role play. Activities incorporate social cognitive-behavioral skill-building strategies (such as presentation, modeling, and the practice of abstinence negotiation skills). Each activity lasts a brief time, and most activities are active exercises in which adolescents get out of their seats and interact with each other.
Program Structure and Timeline

Be Proud! Be Responsible! is designed to be implemented in six 50-minute modules, but can be implemented in a variety of formats. For example, in community settings, it can be implemented in a 2-day format (2.5 hours each day), a 6-day format (50 minutes each day) or on a single day (Saturday). The program is designed to be delivered to a group of 6 to 8 adolescents.

Staffing

Facilitators must be trained adults and be well-versed in highly participatory and interactive skills and in working with youth. Facilitators should be able relate to participants and their life circumstances.

Staff Training

It is highly recommended that educators who plan to teach Be Proud, Be Responsible! receive research-based professional development to prepare them to effectively implement and replicate the curriculum with fidelity for the intended target group.

Training on Be Proud, Be Responsible! is available through ETR's Professional Learning Services. Training options include a 2-day Training of Educators with follow-up support. Visit http://www.etr.org/ebi/training-ta/types-of-services/training-of-educators/ for more information or submit a Training & TA Request Form (http://www.etr.org/solutions/professional-development/training-ta-request-form/).

Program Materials and Resources
Intervention materials consist of the intervention curriculum manual, posters and activity materials. The program also includes video clips specifically selected for intervention.

The distributor provides access to a table of contents and sample lesson on their website: http://www.etr.org/ebi/programs/be-proud-be-responsible/
Additional Needs for Implementation

The program requires the use of a TV monitor and DVD player.

Fidelity

Fidelity benchmarks, a logic model, and monitoring and evaluation tools are available for providers to implement the program with fidelity.

Additional adaptation guidance for Be Proud, Be Responsible! can be found on ETR’s Program Success Center website: http://www.etr.org/ebi/programs/be-proud-be-responsible/

Technical Assistance and Ongoing Support
ETR provides in-person and web- or phone-based technical assistance before, during and/or after program implementation. TA is tailored to the needs of the site and is designed to support quality assurance, trouble-shoot adaptation issues, and boost implementation. Contact ETR’s Professional Learning Services through the Program Support Help Desk (https://programsupport.etr.org/) or visit http://www.etr.org/ebi/training-ta/.
Allowable Adaptations

Specific characteristics of this program may be altered without changing the effectiveness of the program. Adaptations are allowed in consultation with the developer, if they do not alter the core components of the program.

  1. Number of days to deliver the modules and order in which modules are delivered (the program should be completed within a 2 week time frame)
  2. Deletion or replacement of modules or activities 
  3. Age of participants (in classes with diverse age groups, group students into similar age ranges); 
  4. Group size (ideally 6-12 youth per group). Larger groups will require additional facilitators. 
  5. Interactive activities
Adaptation Guidelines or Kit
Yes
Reviewed Studies
Citation High-Quality Randomized Trial Moderate-Quality Randomized Trial Moderate-Quality Quasi-Experiment Low Study Rating Did Not Meet Eligibility Criteria

Jemmott et al. 1992

Jemmott et al. 1999

Jemmott et al. 2010

Borawski et al. 2009

Borawski et al. 2015

Study Characteristics
Citation Setting Majority Age Group Majority Racial/Ethnic Group Gender Sample Size

Jemmott et al. 1992

After school 14 to 17 African American or Black Young men

157

Jemmott et al. 1999

After school 13 or younger African American or Black Youth of any gender

496

Jemmott et al. 2010

After school 14 to 17 African American or Black Youth of any gender

1707

Borawski et al. 2009

Borawski et al. 2015

In school: High school 14 to 17 White Youth of any gender

1357

Study Findings

Evidence by Outcome Domain and Study

Citation Sexual Activity Number of Sexual Partners Contraceptive Use STIs or HIV Pregnancy

Jemmott et al. 1992

Favorable evidence Potentially favorable evidence Potentially favorable evidence n.a. n.a.

Jemmott et al. 1999

Favorable evidence Potentially favorable evidence Potentially favorable evidence n.a. n.a.

Jemmott et al. 2010

Indeterminate evidence n.a. Favorable evidence n.a. n.a.

Borawski et al. 2009

Borawski et al. 2015

Indeterminate evidence n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.
KEY
Evidence Indication
Favorable findings
Two or more favorable impacts and no unfavorable impacts, regardless of null findings
Potentially favorable findings
At least one favorable impact and no unfavorable impacts, regardless of null findings
Indeterminate findings
Uniformly null findings
Conflicting findings
At least one favorable and at least one unfavorable impact, regardless of null findings
Potentially unfavorable findings
At least one unfavorable impact and no favorable impacts, regardless of null findings
Unfavorable findings
Two or more unfavorable impacts and no favorable impacts, regardless of null findings
Note: n.a. indicates the study did not examine any outcome measures within that particular outcome domain, or the study examined outcome measures within that domain but the findings did not meet the review evidence standards.
Detailed Findings
Citation Details

Jemmott et al. 1992

The program's evidence of effectiveness was first established in a randomized controlled trial involving African American male adolescents recruited from school- and community-based locations in Philadelphia, PA. Study participants were randomly assigned to either a treatment group that received the program during a single 5-hour session delivered on a Saturday morning, or to a control group that received a career opportunities development program during the same 5-hour session. Surveys were administered immediately before the program session (baseline), immediately after the session ended, and three months after the session.

The study found that three months after the program session, adolescents in the treatment group reported having significantly fewer female sexual partners (difference in means = -0.93, confidence interval = -1.53 to -0.33), fewer days of vaginal intercourse (difference in means = -3.32, confidence interval = -5.78 to -0.89), and fewer days of vaginal intercourse without a condom (difference in means = -1.73, confidence interval = -2.86 to -0.60). In addition, adolescents in the treatment group were significantly less likely to report having had heterosexual anal sex in the last three months (difference in means = -0.19, confidence interval = -0.32 to -0.06). The study found no statistically significant program impacts on reports of ever having had sex, the number of female anal sex partners, or the frequency of heterosexual anal sex in the last three months.

The study also examined program impacts on measures of attitudes, intentions, and knowledge regarding sexual risk behaviors. Findings for these outcomes were not considered for the review because the outcomes fell outside the scope of the review.

Jemmott et al. 1999

A subsequent study by the same group of researchers evaluated the program among a younger, co-ed sample of adolescents. The study used a randomized controlled trial involving African American seventh and eighth grade students in Trenton, NJ. Study participants were randomly assigned to either a treatment group that received the program during a single 5-hour session delivered on a Saturday, or to a control group that received a general health promotion program during the same session. Surveys were administered immediately before the 5-hour session (baseline), immediately after the session ended, and three and six months after the session.

The study successfully replicated one of the favorable impacts from the original study of the program by Jemmott (1992). Specifically, for the 6-month follow-up survey, the study found that adolescents in the treatment group were less likely than those in the control group to report having had heterosexual anal sex in the last three months. For the 6-month follow-up survey, the study also reported statistically significant program impacts on measures of the frequency of anal intercourse and number of anal sex partners, and on the frequency unprotected sex.

The study also examined program impacts on measures of attitudes toward condoms, self-efficacy, and condom-use intentions. Findings for these outcomes were not considered for the review because the outcomes fell outside the scope of the review.

Jemmott et al. 2010

A separate study by the original group of researchers evaluated the program when implemented outside of school on a broad scale by local community-based organizations. The study used a cluster randomized controlled trial involving 86 community-based organizations in New Jersey and Philadelphia, PA. The study randomly assigned half the organizations to a treatment group that implemented the program and half to a control group that implemented a general health promotion curriculum. Surveys were administered immediately before the program started (baseline); immediately after the program ended, and three, six, and twelve months after the program ended.

The study findings failed to replicate the favorable impact on frequency of sexual intercourse found in the original study of the program by Jemmott (1992). However, the study also examined program impacts on four outcomes not measured in prior studies of the program: (1) consistency of condom use in the prior 90 days, (2) proportion of condom-protected sexual intercourse acts in the prior 90 days, (3) frequency of condom use in the prior 90 days, and (4) use of condoms at last intercourse. When averaging data across the three follow-up surveys, the study found statistically significant program impacts for the first three of these outcomes.

Borawski et al. 2009

Borawski et al. 2015

A more recent study by a separate group of researchers evaluated the program when implemented in suburban high schools during the regular school day. The study used a cluster randomized controlled trial involving ninth and tenth grade students from a Midwestern metropolitan area. Participating schools were randomly assigned in matched pairs to either a treatment group that implemented the program or to a control group that implemented a general health promotion curriculum. Surveys were administered before the program (baseline), immediately after the program, and again four and 12 months after the program ended.

The study found no statistically significant program impact on sexual initiation rates for the subgroup of students who were sexually inexperienced at baseline. The study also examined program impacts on the frequency of intercourse and four measures of unprotected intercourse. Findings for these outcomes were not considered for the review because they did not meet the review evidence standards. Specifically, the outcomes were measured for subgroups of youth defined by sexual activity at follow up.

The study also examined program impacts on measures of condom and STDs knowledge, self-efficacy, condom use and abstinence beliefs, sexual activity and condom use perceived peer beliefs, and intentions to have sex and to use a condom. Findings for these outcomes were not considered for the review because the outcomes fell outside the scope of the review.

Notes

Some study entries may include more than one citation because each citation examines a different follow-up period from the same study sample, or because each citation examines a different set of outcome measures on the same study sample. A blank cell indicates the study did not examine any outcome measures within the particular outcome domain or the findings for the outcome measures within that domain did not meet the review evidence standards.

Information on evidence of effectiveness is available only for studies that received a high or moderate rating. Read the description of the review process for more information on how these programs are identified.