Study Details

Citation

Manlove, J., Cook, E., Whitfield, B., Johnson, M., Martinez-Garcia, G., Garrido, M. (2020). Short-term impacts of Pulse: An app-based teen pregnancy prevention program for Black and Latinx women. Journal of Adolescent Health, 66(2), 224–232.

Program or Component Study?
Program
Program or Component Name

Pulse

Show Evidence of Effectiveness
Yes
Study Rating and Explanation
High —

This study received a high study quality rating because it is a low-attrition randomized controlled trial with no known issues that would suggest the findings cannot be attributed to the program

Program Information

Program Type
Sexual health education
Program Length
Fewer than 10 sessions

Evaluation Setting

Evaluation Setting
Mobile app

Study Sample

Average Age Group
18 or 19
Majority Racial/Ethnic Group
Hispanic or Latino
Sex
Young female

Research Design

Assignment Method
Randomized controlled trial
Number of Follow-Ups

1

Length of Last Follow-Up

This study uses a single, six-week follow-up assessment

Year of Last Data Collection
2018

Study Findings

Result Contraceptive Use
Potentially favorable evidence
Reviewed Studies
High-Quality Randomized Trial
Protocol Version
Version 6.0
Details
The program was evaluated using a randomized controlled trial involving mostly Black or Latina women between the ages of 18 and 20 living in the United States. Participants were recruited online through social media. Participants were randomly assigned to either an intervention group that received a six-week Pulse app program or a control group that received access to a generic health app that did not include sexual education content. Surveys were administered immediately before randomization and six weeks after study enrollment.



The study found that women participating in the program were significantly less likely to report having had sex without using a hormonal or long-acting contraceptive method in the past six weeks (effect size = -0.24 SDs). However, the study found no significant impact on the likelihood of having had sex without any birth control method in the past six weeks.



The study also examined program impacts on measures of birth control use, knowledge about birth control, attitudes towards birth control, self-efficacy regarding birth control, and intentions around birth control. Findings for these outcomes were not considered because they fell outside the scope of the review. In addition, the study examined impacts on hormonal or long-acting reversible contraceptive (LARC) use during last sex - these findings were estimated on an endogenous subgroup and thus, received a low evidence rating.
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.