Study Details
Abt Associates. Reducing the Risk: Interim Impact Report, Teen Pregnancy Prevention Replication Study, Report prepared for the Office of Adolescent Health and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, September 2015a.
Kelsey, M., Blocklin, M., Layzer, J., Price, C., Juras, R., Freiman, L. (201c). Replicating reducing the risk: 12-month impacts of a cluster randomized controlled trial. American Journal of Public Health, 106, S45-S52. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2016.303409
Kelsey, M., Layzer, J., Blocklin, M., Price, C., and Juras, R. "Reducing the Risk: Longer-Term Impact Report." Draft Teen Pregnancy Prevention Replication Study, Abt Associates: Cambridge, MA, November 2016d.
Reducing the Risk
Program Information
Evaluation Setting
Study Sample
Research Design
2689
2
24 from BL
Study Findings
A recent study conducted by a separate group of researchers evaluated the standard version of the program when implemented on a broader scale and among a more broadly-defined target population. The study used a cluster randomized trial involving eighth to tenth grade students in 17 public schools across three states (California, Missouri, and Texas). Students were randomly assigned by classroom to either a treatment group that received the program or to a control group that received either a standardized health class (one site) or the regular school instruction. Surveys were administered before random assignment (baseline) and again 12 and 24 months after baseline.
The study findings failed to replicate the favorable impacts on sexual initiation found in prior studies of the program. In particular, 12-months after the baseline, the study found that students in the control group were no more likely than those in the treatment group to report having ever had sex (odds ratio = 0.95). At the 24-month follow-up, the study found no statistically significant program impacts on sexual initiation among the study participants who were not sexually active at baseline.
The study also found, for the full study sample and at each of the two follow-ups, no evidence of statistically significant program impacts on other measures of sexual risk behavior such as rates of sexual activity and unprotected sexual activity in the past 90 days. In addition, at the 24-month follow-up, the study found no evidence of statistically significant program impacts on being diagnosed with a STI in the last 12 months or on becoming pregnant (females) or getting someone pregnant (males).
The study also examined program impacts on measures of knowledge of pregnancy risk, knowledge of STI risk, attitudes toward protection, attitudes toward risky behavior, motivation to delay childbearing, condom negotiation and refusal skills, and intentions to become sexually active and use protection when sexually active. Findings for these outcomes were not considered for the review because they fell outside the scope of the review.
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.