Effects of Organized Family Planning Programs on U.S. Adolescent Fertility, 1970-1975

Investigators: Jacqueline Darroch Forrest

This file contains data used to estimate the effects of family planning programs in the U.S. on adolescent fertility. The study sample consists of 3,105 counties in the U.S. identified from Alan Guttmacher Institute files. The original study divided the counties into three kinds of statistical analysis units for analysis. The DAAPPP file focuses on county-level data only; however, the statistical analysis units used can be reconstructed using codes in the DAAPPP file. The file contains the following information for the years 1970 and 1975: (1) county-level tabulations of U.S. women by age, race, marital status, and poverty status based on the 1970 Census; (2) data on the number of organized family planning provider sites in each county and the number of teenage patients by age and race; (3) abortion accessibility measures; (4) private medical contraceptive sources; (5) socioeconomic and demographic measures; and (5) birth rate figures. Note for users of DAAPPP Data Sets #01-B1DAAPPP data sets 01 through B1 are comprised of a User's Guide, SPSS syntax files (*.SPS or *.SPX) and raw data files only. Most of these datasets contain SPSS syntax files that use Job Control Language (JCL) from 1980s versions of SPSS-X. Because the syntax is old, the syntax files require editing to conform to the current syntax standards used by SPSS/Windows or SPSS/Unix. If you require technical assistance in using or editing these syntax files, please contact Sociometrics' Data Support Group at 800.846.3475 or socio@socio.com.

Entre Nous Jeunes

Investigators: Simon-Pierre Tegang, M.Sc., Jean Paul Tchupo, M.A., Gdon Yomi, M.Sc., & Blanche Djofang, B.A.

During the 18-month program, Entre Nous Jeunes utilizes a peer-education strategy to increase contraceptive prevalence and reduce the prevalence of STI/HIV and unintended pregnancies. Young adult peer educators in the community educate youth about HIV prevention and safer sex. Peer educators are trained during a one week-long session for the program. For two years, peer educators engage youth in the community by leading discussion groups, creating and using promotional materials, and referring peers to social and health services. The main objective of the program is for young people who have been exposed to a peer-educator to gain greater knowledge and practice more protective behaviors than those not exposed. The findings indicate the important contribution of the ENJ peer-educator program to the promotion of protective reproductive health behaviors to reduce unintended pregnancies and STIs among adolescents. In particular, the program was significantly associated with greater spontaneous knowledge of modern contraceptives and STI symptoms. Findings also suggest positive intervention effects on contraceptive knowledge for males, and virginity and contraceptive use at last intercourse for sexually active females. Click here to view more detailed information on this program.

Evaluating the Adoption Component of AFL Care Projects, 1989-1990

Investigators: Steven D. McLaughlin and Terry R. Johnson, Battelle Centers for Public Health Research and Evaluation

The study, Evaluating the Adoption Component of AFL Care Projects, 1989-1990, was designed to determine if any of the actions taken by Adolescent Family Life (AFL) pregnancy counseling programs have an effect on the likelihood that pregnant adolescent clients will elect to place their children for adoption. Since 1982, the AFL Program of the Office of Population Affairs (OPA) has sponsored a number of demonstration projects that provide health, education and social services for pregnant teenagers, teenage mothers and their families. By legislative mandate, each of these projects is required to have an adoption counseling component designed to increase the exposure of clients to the adoption alternative. These projects vary widely in their organizational characteristics, the approaches used to provide adoption counseling, the characteristics of clients served, and the characteristics of the communities within which they operate. They also differ in the percentage of pregnant adolescents served who choose adoption - from 0 to nearly 35 percent. Many factors affect a program's relinquishment rate. Programs serve clients with widely varying individual characteristics, including different intentions regarding the pregnancy when they first make contact with the agency. In addition, because programs operate in very different social contexts, various approaches to pregnancy counseling may result in very different outcomes. Because of these confounding effects, this study collected data on the programs themselves as well as individual-level data from the clients served. This study gathered data on 314 variables from 869 AFL clients from 29 AFL project sites.

Evaluation Tools and Publications

Investigators: Josefina J. Card, Ph.D., Claire Brindis, Dr.P.H., James L. Peterson, Ph.D., & Starr Niego, Ph.D.

This product consists of eight evaluation tools, publications, and resources: (1) Data Management: An Introductory Workbook for Teen Pregnancy Program Evaluators. This publication describes the basic practical steps in conducting the second half of the research process, and covers data coding, data entry, data cleaning, variable creation, and analysis. (2) Evaluation Readiness Assessment Guide: Is Your Program Ready To Evaluate Its Effectiveness? This comprehensive, easy-to-use guide assists programs to determine if their intervention is ready to be evaluated. (3) Guidebook: Evaluating Teen Pregnancy Prevention Programs. This is a comprehensive guide to the implementation of evaluation methods into all aspects of teen pregnancy programming. (4) Sourcebook of Comparison Data for Evaluating Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Programs. This Sourcebook is meant to facilitate use of existing data as a source of comparison statistics. (5) HIV/AIDS Prevention Program Archive Evaluation Assistance Kit (HEAK). This kit is a comprehensive questionnaire item bank that can be customized for use with any adult HIV/AIDS prevention program. (6) Prevention Minimum Evaluation Data Set (PMEDS). This publication provides a core Primary Questionnaire, with optional Supplementary Modules, that can be used for evaluating all teen pregnancy and teen STD/HIV/AIDS prevention programs. (7) Prevention Minimum Evaluation Data Set Jr (PMEDS Jr). This version of PMEDS is particularly well-suited for programs emphasizing abstinence and programs aimed at younger teens. (8) Prevention Minimum Evaluation Data Set Jr. + (PMEDS Jr. +). This publication is considerably shorter than PMEDS, making it easier for local programs to select questions and develop a survey. It is particularly well-suited for programs emphasizing abstinence and programs aimed at younger teens.

Evaluation of OAPP Adolescent Pregnancy Programs, 1982

Investigators: Martha Burt

This project collected, summarized, and reported data on 31 adolescent pregnancy projects funded by the Office of Adolescent Pregnancy Programs. The purpose of the study was to provide information about how well the programs were meeting legislative and service objectives. The specific issues addressed concerned accountability (both financial and in terms of client targeting), comprehensiveness (i.e., the breadth and concentration of services offered), results of program services, and effects of program structure. Data relating to these issues were obtained from each project through quarterly reporting forms. Note for users of DAAPPP Data Sets #01-B1DAAPPP data sets 01 through B1 are comprised of a User's Guide, SPSS syntax files (*.SPS or *.SPX) and raw data files only. Most of these datasets contain SPSS syntax files that use Job Control Language (JCL) from 1980s versions of SPSS-X. Because the syntax is old, the syntax files require editing to conform to the current syntax standards used by SPSS/Windows or SPSS/Unix. If you require technical assistance in using or editing these syntax files, please contact Sociometrics' Data Support Group at 800.846.3475 or socio@socio.com.

Evaluation of OAPP Adolescent Pregnancy Programs: Individual Level Data I, 1981-1982

Investigators: Martha Burt

The Department of Health and Human Services funds service projects for pregnant and parenting teens, teens at risk of pregnancy, and their families and male partners. This study was designed to evaluate project implementation and the impact of project participation on clients. The data in this file and DAAPPP Data Set No. 34 come from projects' use of a voluntary case management system developed by the Urban Institute. The original data came in 20 separate files, each representing a different project. Each file differed in the number of records used for each case. To facilitate use, DAAPPP merged these files and created a large rectangular file, where each case had the same number of records. DAAPPP Data Set No. 33 contains the information from the one project (198 clients) that had up to 28 records of information per case. The data include information on client entry characteristics, pregnancy outcomes, mother and infant follow-ups, and types of services delivered. This file and the following file (DAAPPP Data Set No. 34) are individual- level data files that can be used in conjunction with DAAPPP Data Set No. 10, which contains program-level information on OAPP adolescent pregnancy programs. Note for users of DAAPPP Data Sets #01-B1DAAPPP data sets 01 through B1 are comprised of a User's Guide, SPSS syntax files (*.SPS or *.SPX) and raw data files only. Most of these datasets contain SPSS syntax files that use Job Control Language (JCL) from 1980s versions of SPSS-X. Because the syntax is old, the syntax files require editing to conform to the current syntax standards used by SPSS/Windows or SPSS/Unix. If you require technical assistance in using or editing these syntax files, please contact Sociometrics' Data Support Group at 800.846.3475 or socio@socio.com.

Evaluation of OAPP Adolescent Pregnancy Programs: Individual Level Data II, 1981-1982

Investigators: Martha Burt

This data file includes individual-level data from 2,104 clients seen in 19 OAPP-sponsored adolescent pregnancy programs. The data include information on client entry characteristics, pregnancy outcomes, mother and infant follow-ups, and types of services delivered. This is the second of two individual-level data files that can be used in conjunction with DAAPPP Data Set No. 10, which contains program-level information on OAPP adolescent pregnancy programs. Note for users of DAAPPP Data Sets #01-B1DAAPPP data sets 01 through B1 are comprised of a User's Guide, SPSS syntax files (*.SPS or *.SPX) and raw data files only. Most of these datasets contain SPSS syntax files that use Job Control Language (JCL) from 1980s versions of SPSS-X. Because the syntax is old, the syntax files require editing to conform to the current syntax standards used by SPSS/Windows or SPSS/Unix. If you require technical assistance in using or editing these syntax files, please contact Sociometrics' Data Support Group at 800.846.3475 or socio@socio.com.

Evaluation of Pregnancy Prevention Programs for Urban Teens, 1981-1984

Investigators: Laurie S. Zabin, Marilyn B. Hirsch, Edward A. Smith and Mark R. Emerson

This study was an evaluation of the effectiveness of a school-based program for the primary prevention of pregnancy among inner-city adolescents. The study was designed and administered by the staff of The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine's Department of Pediatrics and Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics. The project was carried out with the cooperation of the administrators of four schools in the Baltimore school system: two junior high schools and two senior high schools. The program provided the students attending one of the junior high schools and one of the senior high schools with sexuality and contraceptive education, individual and group counseling, and medical and contraceptive services over a period of almost three school years. Students in the remaining two schools received no such services, but provided baseline and end-of-project data, and served as the control sample. An evaluation component was built into the project to assess changes in the knowledge, attitudes and behavior of the school populations.

FOCUS: Preventing Sexually Transmitted Infections and Unwanted Pregnancies among Young Women

Investigators: Cherrie Boyer, Mary-Ann Shafer, Lance Pollack, Kelli Betsinger, Y. Jason Yang, Julius Schachter, Richard Shaffer, Stephanie Brodine, Heidi Kraft

The FOCUS program, a four-session cognitive-behavioral group intervention addressing prevention of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and unintended pregnancies, was originally delivered to young women US Marine Corps recruits. Following a baseline survey, 2,157 women were randomized into either the experimental group (n=1,062) or the control group (n=1,095). Both groups received interventions of four two-hour sessions. Follow-up surveys were conducted with both groups at approximately four months post-baseline and approximately 14 months post-baseline. The evaluation results revealed that a higher proportion of the control group had a post-intervention STI or unintended pregnancy than the intervention group (Odds Ratio = 1.41, 95% Confidence Interval = 1.01-1.98). Among study participants who had no pre-intervention history of STIs or pregnancy, but who engaged in risky sexual behaviors just before recruit training, the control group was significantly more likely to acquire a post-intervention STI than the intervention group (OR = 2.05, CI = 1.74-4.08). Among study participants who reported not being sexually experienced at baseline, control group participants were significantly more likely to have had multiple sexual partners post-intervention than intervention group participants (OR = 1.87, CI = 1.01-3.47). FOCUS is supported by the Office of Adolescent Health (OAH)'s Teen Pregnancy Prevention (TPP) program as an EBI that is medically accurate, age appropriate, and has been proven through rigorous evaluation to prevent teen pregnancy and/or associated sexual risk behaviors. Click here to view more detailed information on this program.

Family Growth Center: A Community-Based Social Support Program for Teen Mothers and Their Families

Investigators: Richard Solomon & Linda Solomon

The Family Growth Center (FGC) is a comprehensive, community-based family support program designed to reduce repeat pregnancy and school drop-out rates among adolescent mothers. The program aims to provide teen mothers in high-risk neighborhoods with a comprehensive set of educational and support services, offered within family and neighborhood contexts. Young women are recruited for the program by perinatal counselors/coaches when they arrive at participating hospital clinics for prenatal visits. Thereafter, they are offered a range of intervention components, coordinated by FGC Case Managers. Program components include home visits, crisis intervention, bimonthly parenting classes, supervised daycare, transportation services, recreational opportunities, and advocacy and referral services. The evaluated FGC Pilot Program took place in several of Pittsburgh's high-risk urban neighborhoods. Of the 88 first-time mothers recruited for the study, 49 were assigned to the intervention group and 39 to the control group. An attrition group was formed to follow the 25 women (15 intervention, 10 control) who dropped out of the program. Protocol assessment measures were diverse and included interview and questionnaire data and psychosocial and behavioral outcomes of mothers and their children. Researchers found that the proportion of the intervention group mothers who dropped out of school (3/34) was significantly less than the proportion of the control group (12/29), a pattern which held at both Time 1 (two years after recruitment) and Time 2 (three years after recruitment) analysis points. Significant differences were also found in the frequency of repeat pregnancies between the two groups. At Time 1, three repeat pregnancies occurred in the intervention group (less than 10%) versus 11 repeat pregnancies (38%) in the control group (p=0.006). The Time 2 pattern was the same, with a total of 7 repeat pregnancies among the intervention group and 21 within the control group (p=0.020). Click here to view more detailed information on this program.