Since approximately 500,000 teenagers give birth each year, adolescent pregnancy remains an important public health concern. Several commercially-developed educational and skills-building intervention programs exist with the goal of decreasing youth involvement in sexual activity and preventing teenage pregnancy. The purpose of this presentation is to demonstrate how a University-based evaluation team, a State Health Department and local program providers collaborate to offer comprehensive evaluation support to12 projects implementing one or more commercially-developed teenage pregnancy prevention (TPP) programs in school settings (e.g., Postponing Sexual Involvement, Streetwise to Sex-wise, and Wise Guys). Approximately 2,200 students participate annually in the programs. Logic models are constructed with each program site to identify desired youth outcomes and guide intervention design. A pre- and post-intervention, scannable-form questionnaire evaluation design is conducted to evaluate TPP program student outcomes. The survey is designed to assess TPP curricula content (both unique and in-common to the prevention programs) related to knowledge, attitudes, skills, and behaviors. Program implementation and student attendance data also are collected to determine TPP curricula fidelity. Finally, student satisfaction with the TPP curricula and instructor are assessed. Data are analyzed collectively across the projects and individually for each project. Each project receives a report detailing the program results and specific suggestions regarding program improvement and evaluation effectiveness. The results of these collaborative evaluation efforts have been: 1) more comprehensive evaluation for individual projects, 2) increased sample size and potential for realizing statistically significant outcomes, and 3) community input regarding program improvements that reflect local population needs.
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant in this session will be able to: 1. Identify specific strategies to simultaneously evaluate multiple teenage pregnancy prevention curricula. 2. Recognize the benefits of collaborative partnerships between University-based evaluation teams and local program providers in evaluating teen pregnancy prevention curricula.
Keywords: Evaluation, Teen Pregnancy Prevention
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.