Full Text View  
  Tabular View  
  Contacts and Locations  
  No Study Results Posted  
  Related Studies  
The "Reach For Health" Program: Delaying Sexual Activity in Children
This study is currently recruiting participants.
Verified by Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), April 2003
Sponsored by: Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
Information provided by: Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00059241
  Purpose

Working with multiple schools in Brooklyn, NY, this study will develop and evaluate school- and community-based strategies designed to reduce early sexual activity and risky sexual behavior in middle school-aged children. These strategies will focus on parent education, classroom health curriculum, and learning through participation in community service.


Condition Intervention Phase
Sex Behavior
Child Behavior
Behavioral: Parent-child communication education
Behavioral: Service learning
Behavioral: Classroom health curriculum
Phase II

U.S. FDA Resources
Study Type: Interventional
Study Design: Prevention, Randomized, Open Label, Active Control, Parallel Assignment, Efficacy Study
Official Title: Reach For Health--Middle Childhood Risk Prevention Study

Further study details as provided by Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD):

Estimated Enrollment: 1200
Study Start Date: July 2000
Detailed Description:

Given the early age of sexual initiation among urban minority youth, interventions aimed at reducing sexual initiation and risky sexual behavior related to HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) should begin prior to entry into middle school. These interventions should support both students and their parents through the transition to early adolescence. In collaboration with the New York City Public Schools, this study is designed to evaluate strategies to prevent early sexual initiation and its precursors among academically at-risk urban minority boys and girls.

This study will answer two questions: 1) do factors that predict sexual risk taking and its precursors in young adolescence operate similarly in middle childhood; and 2) can interventions shown to be effective in early adolescence be developmentally adapted for middle childhood to delay sexual initiation and its precursors? The study will evaluate the impact of the intervention on mechanisms hypothesized to reduce sexual risk taking and its precursors, including the personal resiliency and social competencies of youth. The study will also collect data on the costs and process of implementation to inform subsequent dissemination.

Participants in this study will be fifth and sixth grade children enrolled in participating public schools in Brooklyn, NY. Participating school communities will be predominantly African American and Latino. In the fall of their fifth and sixth grade years, students and their families are assigned at random to participate in either a parent education group or in a control group. The parent education program, “Saving Sex for Later,” focuses on the transition from middle childhood to early adolescence, the pressures to engage in risk behaviors (including early sexual initiation and related risks), and peer and parental influences on youth attitudes and behaviors. Those in the control condition receive a classroom health curriculum. In addition, a subgroup in each grade level is assigned to participate in service learning, an educational method in which personal and community values are taught through experience in structured service activities.

Youth will be followed for 12 to 18 months. Surveys will be conducted in the fall of the fifth and sixth grade years and again at a 3-month post intervention follow-up. These surveys will measure youth attitudes and behaviors, including precursors to early sexual initiation and related risk behaviors. Surveys of parents' attitudes and behaviors will also be conducted to supplement information from youth. To assist in interpreting results of the surveys, in-depth qualitative interviews will be conducted with a subgroup of fifth grade youth; these youth will be resurveyed prior to entry into seventh grade.

  Eligibility

Ages Eligible for Study:   10 Years to 14 Years
Genders Eligible for Study:   Both
Accepts Healthy Volunteers:   Yes
Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

  • Youth attending NYC schools implementing "Reach for Health" program components and their parents
  • Enrolled in general education classes
  • Ability to complete survey assessments in English
  Contacts and Locations
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00059241

Locations
United States, Massachusetts
Education Development Center, Inc. Recruiting
Newton, Massachusetts, United States, 02458
Contact: Lydia O'Donnell, Ed.D.     617-969-7100 ext 2368     lodonnell@edc.org    
Sponsors and Collaborators
Investigators
Principal Investigator: Lydia O'Donnell, Ed.D. Education Development Center, Inc.
  More Information

Study ID Numbers: 5R01HD39537-2
Study First Received: April 22, 2003
Last Updated: June 23, 2005
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00059241  
Health Authority: United States: Federal Government

Keywords provided by Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD):
Early sexual initiation
Prevention of early sexual activity
Middle childhood

ClinicalTrials.gov processed this record on January 16, 2009