Study Details
Robinson, W.T., Kaufman, R. Cahill, L. (2016a). Evaluation of the Teen Outreach Program in Louisiana. New Orleans, LA. Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center at New Orleans, School of Public Health, Initiative for Evaluation and Capacity Building.
Robinson, W. T., Seibold-Simpson, S., Crean, H. F., Spruille-White, B. (2016b). Randomized Trials of the Teen Outreach Program in Louisiana and Rochester, New York. American Journal of Public Health, 106, S39-S44. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2016.303403
Teen Outreach Program (TOP)
Program Information
Evaluation Setting
Study Sample
Research Design
4769
2
12
Study Findings
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.
A separate recent study evaluated the program using a randomized controlled trial that involved 4,769 adolescents recruited from Community Based Organizations in Louisiana. Adolescents were randomly assigned to either a treatment group that received TOP or a control group that did not receive TOP or any other teen pregnancy prevention program. The study administered surveys before conducting random assignment (baseline), and again immediately and 12 months after the end of the program.
The study findings failed to replicate the favorable impacts on sexual activity rates and pregnancy found in the earlier studies by Daley et al. (2015) and Allen et al. (1997), respectively. In particular, the study found that immediately after the end of the program, the subgroup of adolescents in the group receiving TOP who were sexually inexperienced at baseline were no less likely than their counterparts in the control group to report they have had become sexually active (odds ratio = 1.25). Twelve months after the end of the program, the study found that adolescents in the group receiving TOP were no less likely than adolescents in the control group to report ever being pregnant (odds ratio = 0.96). Immediately and 12 months after the end of the program, the study also found no evidence of statistically significant program impacts on having sex without using an effective method of birth control in the last three months.