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Study Details
Citation
Abt Associates. Safer Sex Intervention: 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 2015b.
Kelsey, M., Walker, J. T., Layzer, J., Price, C., Juras, R. (2016e). Replicating the safer sex intervention: 9-month impact findings of a randomized controlled trial. American Journal of Public Health, 106, S53-S59. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2016.303372
Kelsey, M., Layzer, J., Price, C., Juras, R., and Walker, J. "Safer Sex Intervention: Short-Term Impact Report." Draft Teen Pregnancy Prevention Replication Study, Abt Associates: Cambridge, MA, November 2016f.
Program or Component Study?
Program
Program or Component Name
Safer Sex Intervention (SSI)
Show Evidence of Effectiveness
Yes
Program Information
Program Type
Sexual health education
Program Length
Fewer than 10 sessions
Evaluation Setting
Evaluation Setting
Health clinic or medical facility
Study Sample
Average Age Group
14 to 17
Majority Racial/Ethnic Group
African American or Black
Gender
Young women
Research Design
Assignment Method
Randomized controlled trial
Sample Size
1809
Number of Follow-Ups
2
Length of Last Follow-Up
12
Year of Last Data Collection
2015
Study Findings
Result Number Partners
Result Sexual Activity
Result Contraceptive
Result STI or HIV
Result Pregnancy
Reviewed Studies
High-Quality Randomized Trial
Protocol Version
Version 5.0
Details
A subsequent study conducted by a separate group of researchers evaluated the program when implemented on a broader scale and with a more broadly-defined target population. The study used a randomized controlled trial involving young women recruited from 37 clinics across three states (Florida, Minnesota, and Tennessee). The study focused on young women who were sexually active or about to become sexually active. Participants were randomly assigned to either a treatment group that received the intervention or to a control group that received the standard clinic services. Data were collected immediately before random assignment (baseline) and again nine and 18 months after study enrollment.
The study found that nine months after enrolling in the study, adolescents in the treatment group were significantly less likely to report having had sexual intercourse without birth control in the previous 90 days. The study also found that among the subgroup of adolescents who were sexually inexperienced at baseline, those in the treatment group were significantly less likely to report having had sex or having had more than one lifetime sexual partner. These program effects did not persist 18 months after enrollment in the study. In particular, the study found no evidence of statistically significant program impacts, for the full sample and for any of the subgroups of youth defined by sexual experience at baseline, on rates of sexual activity or sexual activity without birth control in the last 90 days, or on having had more than one lifetime sexual partner.
At the 18-month follow-up, the study also found no evidence of statistically significant program impacts on becoming pregnant or being diagnosed with a STI in the last 12 months for either the full sample or the subsample of youth who were sexually inexperienced at baseline. At both the 9- and 18-month follow-ups, the study found no statistically significant program impacts on the percentage of participants who reported having had sex without a condom in the past 90 days.
The study also examined program impacts on measures of knowledge of pregnancy risk and STI risk, attitudes toward protection, attitudes toward risky sexual behavior, motivation to delay childbearing, condom negotiation and refusal skills, and intentions to engage in sexual risky behavior. Findings for these outcomes were not considered for the review because they fell outside the scope of the review.
Effect Sizes
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.