Study Details

Citation

Grossman, J. M., Tracy, A. J., Charmaraman, L., Ceder, I., Erkut, S. (2014). Protective Effects of Middle School Comprehensive Sex Education with Family Involvement. Journal of School Health, 84, 739-747.

Erkut, S., Grossman, J. M., Frye, A. A., Ceder, I., Charmaraman, L., Tracy, A. J. (2013). Can sex education delay early sexual debut? Journal of Early Adolescence, 33(4), 482-497.

Grossman, J. M., Frye, A., Charmaraman, L., Erkut, S. (2013). Family homework and school-based sex education: Delaying early adolescents' sexual behavior. Journal of School Health, 83, 810-817.

Program or Component Study?
Program
Program or Component Name

Get Real

Show Evidence of Effectiveness
Yes
Study Rating and Explanation
Moderate —

Random assignment study that met the criteria for a moderate rating because it added sample members after random assignment; findings show a positive, statistically significant impact for at least one behavioral outcome

Program Information

Program Type
Sexual health education
Program Length
More than 20 sessions

Evaluation Setting

Evaluation Setting
In school: Middle school

Study Sample

Average Age Group
13 or younger
Majority Racial/Ethnic Group
Hispanic or Latino
Sex
Male and female youth

Research Design

Assignment Method
Cluster randomized controlled trial
Sample Size

2453

Number of Follow-Ups

2

Length of Last Follow-Up

0

Year of Last Data Collection
2010

Study Findings

Result Sexual Activity
Potentially favorable evidence
Reviewed Studies
Moderate-Quality Randomized Trial
Protocol Version
Version 4.0
Details

The program was evaluated in a cluster randomized controlled trial involving 24 middle schools in the greater Boston area. In the study, twelve middle schools were randomly assigned to a treatment group that implemented the Get Real program and twelve schools were randomly assigned to a control group that continued delivering their regular sex education programming. Surveys were administered at the beginning of sixth grade (baseline), beginning of seventh grade, and at the end of 8th grade (after the program ended). The study found that at the end of the eighth grade, students in the schools that delivered the program were statistically significantly less likely to initiate sexual activity.

Effect Sizes
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NA = Not available. This means the authors did not report the information in the manuscripts associated with the studies we reviewed.

a This information was not available whenever authors did not report information for the treatment and comparison groups separately on outcome means, standard deviations, and/or sample sizes.

b Authors reported that the program effect (impact) estimate is statistically significant with a p-value of less than 0.05 based on a two-tailed test.

c For some outcomes, having less of that outcome is favorable. In those cases, an effect with a negative sign is favorable to the treatment group (that is, the treatment group had a more favorable outcome than the comparison group, on average).

d An effect shows credibly estimated, statistically significant evidence whenever it has a p-value of less than 0.05 based on a two-tailed test, includes the appropriate adjustment for clustering (if applicable), and it is not based on an endogenous subgroup.

Language directly from the program model developer or authors.