The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of the Worth the Wait program, a 5-year abstinence education initiative targeted to 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students. The primary focus of the Worth the Wait program is on building healthy relationships and on shared responsibility in pregnancy prevention. The program is a multi-year educational and motivational endeavor in which students receive a series of three 1-hour programmed sessions each year for a 3-year period. Individual student responses to each program are being followed over the three-year period. Now in its second year, the project involves almost 3,000 middle school students from 12 school districts in South Central New York Sate. Simultaneously, parents of students are participating in the Can We Talk program, a four-part educational workshop series designed to enhance parent/child communication about sexuality and other risk-taking behaviors. Preliminary results from reports over the past 6 quarters indicate that the program has been effective in achieving stated program objectives. This presentation reports the findings of this abstinence education initiative to date.
Learning Objectives: 1. Describe the Worth the Wait program, its collaborative implementation across South Central New York schools, and the research methodologies used to evaluate its effectiveness. 2. Discuss the challenges encountered in the implementation and evaluation of a multi-year longitudinal study involving a number of agencies and school districts. 3. Analyze the effectiveness of the Worth the Wait Program in assisting students to maintain abstinence through evaluation of attitude changes as a result of the program and their impact on student behavior and decision-making.
Keywords: School-Based Programs, Child/Adolescent
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: Mothers & Babies Perinatal Network of South Central New York
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.