Study Details

The program was evaluated in a randomized controlled trial involving middle school students in Philadelphia, PA. Students were randomly assigned to either a treatment group that received the program or to a control group that received a general health-promotion curriculum on diet, exercise, cancer awareness, and smoking. Both the control and intervention programs were delivered outside of regular school hours over two consecutive Saturdays. Surveys were administered immediately before the program (baseline), immediately after the program, and three, six, and 12 months after the program.

The study found that three months after the program ended, adolescents participating in the intervention who were sexually inexperienced at baseline were significantly less likely to report having had sexual intercourse in the previous 3 months. The study did not find any statistically significant program impacts on rates of sexual intercourse for adolescents who were sexually experienced at baseline, or on frequency of sexual intercourse, condom use, or unprotected sexual intercourse for the full sample. The study found no statistically significant program impacts for the follow-ups conducted six and 12 months after the program ended.

Program impacts were also examined on measures of condom use consistency. Findings for these outcomes were not considered for the review because they did not meet the review evidence standards. Specifically, findings were reported only for subgroups of youth defined by sexual activity at follow up. The study also examined program impacts on attitudes toward abstinence, as well as condom use knowledge, skills, and beliefs. Findings for these outcomes were not considered for the review because they fell outside the scope of the review.