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Girls Inc. Preventing Adolescent Pregnancy® (GIPAP) is an abstinence-based program aimed at decreasing pregnancy in adolescent and teenage girls. Developed by Girls Incorporated and offered nationwide through a 1,000-site network, GIPAP is based on the idea that there are four components to preventing teen pregnancy: family communication about sexuality, skills in resisting pressure to be sexually active, motivation and resources to postpone pregnancy, and overcoming barriers to effective contraception for sexually active teens. The program has four components: Growing TogetherSM (ages 9–11), Will Power/Won’t Power® (12–14), Taking Care of BusinessSM (15–17), and Health BridgeSM (also 15–17).
The Growing Together component concentrates on improving one comfort and skill in communicating within the family about sexual information. Parent–daughter pairs or family groups attend it in five 2-hour sessions.
The Will Power/Won’t Power component concentrates on delaying the initiation of sexual intercourse among participants by helping girls develop attitudes and skills for dealing with sexuality and health issues. It consists of six 2-hour sessions.
The Taking Care of Business component develops the motivation behind good decision-making regarding sexual activity—that is, choosing either to abstain from sexual intercourse or to use effective and consistent contraception. This consists of nine 2-hour sessions.
The Health Bridge component is a healthcare delivery system that links girls to community healthcare professionals and services. Its key characteristics include accessible and anonymous services, comfort with health personnel, case management, and health education conducted by clinic staff. This component has the most variation, with health professionals ranging from social workers to volunteer nurses.
This study used a pretest–posttest quasi-experimental design at four Girls Incorporated affiliates, each of which administered all four components of the program. Girls were recruited to participate at each site. Girls who volunteered to enroll in the program served as the treatment group, while girls who declined to enroll served as the comparison group. The full sample at the beginning of the study consisted of 343 girls and young women ages 12–15. About 69 percent (237) of the subjects, designated as program participants, participated in at least one program component at some time during the 2-year period. About 31 percent (106) did not participate in any of the four components and were designated as nonparticipants and served as a comparison group. Several variables often associated with teen pregnancy were compared among nonparticipants, participants in one program component, and participants in two or more program components to test for self-selection bias, which revealed that all groups were similar. The groups were similar in age, racial and ethnic background, educational expectation, degree of association with others who experienced teenage pregnancy, and level of sexual activity at baseline. The principal measuring instrument was the annual survey, a questionnaire that was given over a 2-year period: at the beginning of each program year, before the programming started, and at the end of the last program year. The annual survey included questions about sexual behaviors, attitudes toward pregnancy educational and career expectations, and social and economic background. The analytic strategy consisted of both bivariate and multivariate analyses.
The evaluation compared those who participated in two or more program components with nonparticipants and those who participated in one program component on two outcome variables: sexual intercourse without birth control, and pregnancy experience of the participants. The findings indicate that those who participated in one or more program components were significantly less likely to experience pregnancy than nonparticipants (5.9 percent versus 12.3 percent, respectively).
In addition, the study found that those who participated in two or more program components were significantly less likely to engage in sexual intercourse without birth control than those who participated in a single program component (8.9 percent versus 20.6 percent). (Notably, this finding is significant only for the bivariate analysis). However, those who participated in two or more program components were as likely to have sexual intercourse without birth control as nonparticipants.
Nicholson, Heather Johnston, and Leticia T. Postrado. 1992. “A Comprehensive Age-Phased Approach: Girls Incorporated.” In Brent C. Miller, Josefina J. Card, Roberta L. Paikoff, and James C. Peterson. Preventing Adolescent Pregnancy: Model Programs and Evaluations. Newbury Park, Calif.: Sage.
Postrado, Leticia T., and Heather Johnston Nicholson. 1992. “Effectiveness in Delaying the Initiation of Sexual Intercourse of Girls Aged 12–14: Two Components of the Girls Incorporated Preventing Adolescent Pregnancy Program.” Youth and Society 23(3):356–79.
Lindsay Briggs
Girls Incorporated
441 West Michigan Street
Indianapolis, IN 46202–3233
Phone: (317) 634-7546
Fax: (317) 634-3024
E-mail: lbriggs@girls-inc.org
Web site: http://www.girls-inc.org
Sandi Skwor
Girls Incorporated
441 West Michigan Street
Indianapolis, IN 46202–3233
Phone: (317) 634-7546
Fax: (317) 634-3024
E-mail: skwor@girls-inc.org
Web site: http://www.girls-inc.org
