1. Teen Pregnancy Prevention Evidence Review
  2. Programs
  3. Teen Options To Prevent Pregnancy (T.O.P.P.)

Teen Options to Prevent Pregnancy (T.O.P.P.)

Developers
Ohio Health Community Health and Wellness
Program Summary
The Teen Options to Prevent Rapid Repeat Pregnancy (T.O.P.P.) program provides motivational interviewing, contraceptive access, and social service support over an 18-month period to help at-risk teen mothers develop and adhere to a birth control plan and to prevent rapid repeat pregnancies. The program is delivered by trained nurse educators through home and telephone-based care coordination.
Intended Population
The program is designed for and was evaluated with females ages 10 to 19 who are pregnant (at least 28 weeks into their pregnancy) or have just given birth (up to nine weeks postpartum).
Program Setting

The program was designed for and evaluated through home- and telephone-based care coordination delivered by trained nurses in Ohio.

Contact and Availability Information
For curriculum, materials, and pricing information, please contact:
Robyn Lutz
Project director
Phone: 614-566-9085
Email: Robyn.Lutz@ohiohealth.com 
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)

The T.O.P.P. Tool Kit is available through the developer.

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 Lesson number(s) / activities where present
Content Boundary setting/refusal skills No No
Content Child development No No
Content Communication skills No No
Content Conflict resolution/social problem solving No No
Content Connections with trusted adults No No
Content Cultural values No No
Content No No
Content Sex roles No No
Content Leadership No No
Content Normative beliefs No No
Content Parenting skills No Optional
Content Social competence No No
Content Social influence/actual vs. perceived social norms No No
Content Social support/capital No No
Content Identity development No No
Content Morals/values No No
Content Spirituality No No
Content Volunteering/civic engagement No No
Content Other No Optional
Content Other Yes Yes (both versions) During the first postpartum visit either in person or per phone.
Content Other
Delivery mechanism Method: Anonymous question box No
Delivery mechanism Method: Artistic expression No
Delivery mechanism Method: Assessment/survey Yes Yes (both versions) All 18 sessions
Delivery mechanism Method: Booster session No
Delivery mechanism Method: Case management Yes Yes (both versions) All 18 sessions
Delivery mechanism Method: Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) No No
Delivery mechanism Method: Demonstration Yes Yes (both versions) At most sessions until youth chooses a birth control method.
Delivery mechanism Method: Discussion/debrief No
Delivery mechanism Method: Family session Optional
Delivery mechanism Method: Game No
Delivery mechanism Method: Home visiting Yes Yes (both versions) Only one home visit is required but it is the most effective method.
Delivery mechanism Method: Homework assignment No
Delivery mechanism Method: In-session assignment Optional
Delivery mechanism Method: Introduction No No
Delivery mechanism Method: Lecture No Optional
Delivery mechanism Method: Motivational interviewing Yes Yes (both versions) All 18 sessions
Delivery mechanism Method: Music No No
Delivery mechanism Method: Parent-focused activity No No
Delivery mechanism Method: Peer-to-peer No No
Delivery mechanism Method: Public service announcement No No
Delivery mechanism Method: Reading No No
Delivery mechanism Method: Role play/Practice No No
Delivery mechanism Method: Self-guided activity No No
Delivery mechanism Method: Service learning No No
Delivery mechanism Method: Slide show No Optional
Delivery mechanism Method: Social media No No
Delivery mechanism Method: Spiral learning Yes Yes (both versions) Once per month for 18 months
Delivery mechanism Method: Storytelling No No
Delivery mechanism Method: Text message No Optional
Program Objectives
T.O.P.P.’s goal is to reduce rapid repeat teen pregnancies and promote healthy birth spacing through home and telephone-based care coordination that encompasses motivational interviewing and access to family planning and other supportive services.
Program Content
The core component of the T.O.P.P. model is motivational interviewing, which is based on the Behavioral Model of Health Services Use (Andersen 1995). The premise of this model is that contraceptive behavior can be changed by empowering a young woman to make her own informed choices about birth control and pregnancy, and providing her easy access to birth control. Motivational interviewing is an individualized, client-driven, collaborative form of communication designed to promote individual change.
 
The model encompasses the following:
  • Motivational interviewing: 18 monthly one-on-one home and telephone motivational interviewing sessions with a nurse educator focusing on birth spacing and preventing repeat pregnancy, birth control methods and misconceptions about the methods, and future planning for achieving birth control and spacing goals.
  • Access to contraception: T.O.P.P. improves access to contraception by offering access to a T.O.P.P. clinic, transportation services, and/or in-person discussion about and distribution of contraceptives.
  • Assessment and referrals by a social worker: T.O.P.P. provides participants access to a social worker who, based on initial psychosocial assessments and case management, can refer participants to services. The theory behind these service referrals is that addressing other barriers that teen mothers face, such as poverty, trauma, and homelessness, will ultimately help them adhere to a birth control regimen.
These components are designed to increase participants’ consistent use of contraception which, in turn, will lead to the program’s desired goals of promoting healthy birth spacing and reducing rapid repeat teen births.
Program Methods
T.O.P.P. provides monthly home and telephone-based coordinated care supplemented with access to contraceptive services during individual, in-person visits with the teen mothers. During the nurse educators’ contacts with participants, they use motivational interviewing, to educate clients about family planning and the value of preventing rapid repeat pregnancies. Educators strive to gently guide the conversation in a manner that educates participants about the health benefits of delaying subsequent pregnancy, provides medically-accurate information on various birth control methods (including abstinence), addresses any misconceptions inhibiting contraceptive use, and helps the teens develop a birth control plan.

Follow-up telephone calls provide an opportunity to provide further information on contraceptives, help participants identify and schedule appointments with their OB/GYN or other medical provider, debrief about the participants’ appointments, and problem-solve barriers to consistent and continued birth control use. The calls also provide a forum for the educators to address supportive service needs participants may face, and refer them to the T.O.P.P. social worker for additional support, as needed. Participants may also access birth control through the T.O.P.P. Clinic if they cannot get into their clinic or medical home. Nurses also provide in home Depo Provera shots.
Program Structure and Timeline
T.O.P.P. expects that nurse educators will conduct monthly telephone calls with participants over a period of 18 months. Frequency of calls may be greater during the initial program period or when the participant is changing their birth control method. There is no minimum or maximum length for each call.
 
To facilitate initial and continued contraceptive use, the nurse educators make follow-up telephone calls and are also encouraged to conduct home or other in-person visits, if possible, at least one per participant during their time in the program. Ideally, such a visit would be conducted within the first few months after a client’s enrollment in T.O.P.P.
Staffing
T.O.P.P. should be delivered by nurse educators with training in motivational interviewing, obstetrics, gynecology, or maternal and child health. Staff are expected to also be trained in educating clients on the characteristics of different contraceptive options.
Staff Training
Staff delivering T.O.P.P. are required to attend an initial two-day training retreat focused on motivational interviewing techniques, led by a motivational interviewing expert consultant. Staff also need training regarding the provision of Efficacy-based Contraceptive Counseling.
Program Materials and Resources
The developer has a program tool kit available for purchase. The tool kit includes a program overview, the T.O.P.P. logic model, a chapter on the pedagogy and enabling factors, information on curriculum and program components (including worksheets and patient screening tools), and fidelity guidelines.
Additional Needs for Implementation
Additional in-person training may be needed.
Fidelity
The T.O.P.P. program relies on ongoing staff training, expert telephone call reviews, and the use of monitoring tools to maximize fidelity to motivational interviewing methods. The T.O.P.P. logic model may be obtained by contacting the developer. Fidelity benchmarks and monitoring tools are in the program tool kit available for purchase.
Technical Assistance and Ongoing Support
After the initial training, staff should meet weekly with the training expert during the first program year and continue to do so every other week. The ongoing technical assistance sessions offer ongoing training, review recent motivational interviewing interactions, and discuss the quality of those interactions. The sessions also provide an opportunity to discuss ways to handle the challenges staff face in conducting motivational interviewing.

For training and support, please contact:
Robyn Lutz
Project director
Ph: 614-566-9085
Email: Robyn.Lutz@ohiohealth.com 
Allowable Adaptations
The program's toolkit (available for purchase) lists specific activities that are required for fidelity to the T.O.P.P. model, and those that are optional.
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

Smith et al. 2015a

Rotz et al. 2016a

Stevens et al., 2017
Study Characteristics
Citation Setting Majority Age Group Majority Racial/Ethnic Group Gender Sample Size

Smith et al. 2015a

Rotz et al. 2016a

Stevens et al., 2017

 		Multiple settings 18 or 19 White Young female

493
Study Findings

Evidence by Outcome Domain and Study

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

Smith et al. 2015a

Rotz et al. 2016a

Stevens et al., 2017

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

Smith et al. 2015a

Rotz et al. 2016a

Stevens et al., 2017

The program was evaluated using a randomized controlled trial involving pregnant or recently pregnant young women recruited from seven obstetrics-gynecology clinics and five postpartum units of a large hospital system in a Midwestern city. Participants were randomly assigned to either a treatment group that received the 18-month T.O.P.P. program or a control group that received usual care. Surveys were administered at baseline, mid-intervention (6 months after enrollment), and immediately after the end of the intervention (18 months after enrollment).

The study found that adolescents participating in the intervention were significantly less likely to report having had unprotected vaginal intercourse in the past three months at six months after enrollment (effect size = .02) and at 18 months after enrollment (effect size = 0.01). The study also found that 18 months after enrollment, adolescents participating in T.O.P.P. were significantly less likely to report having had a repeat pregnancy (effect size = 0.01), unintended repeat pregnancy (effect size = 0.02), or live birth (effect size = 0.03) since enrollment. At both six and 18 months after study enrollment, the study found no statistically significant program impacts on whether the participant had vaginal sex, whether the participant had vaginal intercourse without a condom, or the number of sexual partners in the past three months.

The study also examined program impacts on measures of use of long-acting reversible contraception, use of effective birth control, trying to avoid pregnancy in the next year, school enrollment, and completion of high school or GED. Findings for these outcomes were not considered for the review because they 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.

Language directly from the program model developer or authors.