Demoiselle 2 Femme holistic approach abstinence-based education demonstration program with high school girls: Year one results

The Demoiselle 2 Femme abstinence education demonstration project serves girls 14-18 through high school and follow-up into college in six African American high risk Chicago and nearby communities. Comprehensive youth development component (40 sessions/year 1 or 20 in years 2-4) is augmented with other activities: mentorship, personal and character development, community service, academic assistance, and college visits. Parent education workshops, and a separate curriculum for fathers, supplements the teen curriculum. Target objectives include reduction in number of students who engage in premarital sexual activity, out of wedlock pregnancies, STDs, and use of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs; and increase in high school graduation rate, college enrollment, number who commit to abstain from health-risk behaviors, parental involvement and parent support of abstinence, teen refusal skills; and, knowledge, attitudes concerning abstinence until marriage. Design is quasi-experimental with two teen girl comparison groups: (1) demographically comparable high schools and (2) Upward Bound and Gear Up high school programs which have an exclusive academic objective. Pre-post questionnaires data (after Rasch analysis) are examined with multivariate methods. From an administration of pre-post pilot-surveys and review of baseline data with 111 students, results indicate change along several dimensions. For example, a greater proportion "strongly agreed" or "agreed" with the following: “A teenager who chooses abstinence shows self-respect and self-confidence. Furthermore, while about 40% reported that they would engage in sexual intercourse with their boyfriend before the intervention, less than 15% reported similarly after the intervention. Additional analyses will examine hypothesized positive changes with several risk behaviors.