Use your browser's BACK button to return to your page of origin.
Behavioral interventions to reduce incidence of HIV, STD,
and pregnancy among adolescents: A decade in review.
Journal of Adolescent Health 2004;34:3-26.
Robin L, Dittus P, Whitaker D, Crosby R, Ethier KA, Mezoff J, Miller
K, Pappas-Deluca K.
Abstract
PURPOSE: To review adolescent sexual risk-reduction programs that were evaluated
using quasi-experimental or experimental methods and published in the 1990s.
We describe evaluated programs and identify program and evaluation issues
for health educators and researchers. METHODS: We systematically searched
seven electronic databases and hand-searched journals to identify evaluations
of behavioral interventions to reduce sexual risk behaviors among adolescents.
Articles were included if they were published in the 1990s, provided a theoretical
basis for the program, information about the interventions, clear aims, and
quasi-experimental or experimental evaluation methods. We identified 101
articles, and 24 met our criteria for inclusion. RESULTS: We reviewed these
evaluations to assess their research and program characteristics. The majority
of studies included randomized controlled designs and employed delayed follow-up
measures. The most commonly measured outcomes were delay of initiation of
sexual intercourse, condom use, contraceptive use, and frequency of sexual
intercourse. Programs ranged from 1 to 80 sessions, most had adult facilitators,
and commonly included skills-building activities about sexual communication,
decision-making, and problem solving. The programs included a wide range
of strategies for content delivery such as arts and crafts, school councils,
and community service learning. CONCLUSIONS: Analysis of these programs suggest
four overall factors that may impact program effectiveness including the
extent to which programs focus on specific skills for reducing sexual risk
behaviors; program duration and intensity; what constitutes the content of
a total evaluated program including researchers' assumptions of participants'
exposure to prior and concurrent programs; and what kind of training is available
for facilitators.
.
.
