Interim Impacts of the AIM 4 Teen Moms Program

Introduction: Of the over 30,000 teen births every year, nearly one in five result from repeat pregnancies to mothers who have previously given birth as a teen (California Department of Public Health 2014). To address these needs, staff at CHLA developed a new and promising positive youth development program based on the Theory of Possible Selves designed to reduce subsequent pregnancies in new teen mothers. Through a mix of interactive discussions and skill-building activities, the program encourages teen mothers to envision positive futures for themselves, identify the practical steps necessary to achieve their long-term goals, consider the pros and cons of different contraceptive methods, and identify those that best align with their long-term aspirations and goals. We will report on findings from a large-scale random assignment evaluation of the AIM 4 Teen Moms program.

Methods: The evaluation involved a large sample of more than 900 new teen mothers. The study was designed as a randomized controlled trial involving new adolescent mothers recruited from targeted areas of Los Angeles County. Among the participants deemed eligible for the evaluation, about half were randomly assigned to a treatment group that was offered the Aim 4 Teen Moms program and half were assigned to a control group that was not offered the program. Both treatment and control group participants had access to existing reproductive health services available through other local agencies that serve teen mothers. We calculated interim program impacts of the program by comparing outcomes between the treatment and control groups about 12 months after study enrollment.

Results: Our results indicate that AIM 4 Teen Moms had a favorable impact on one of the primary, interim behavioral outcomes targeted by the program: incidence of unprotected sex. Among the teen mothers assigned to the treatment group, 23.3 percent reported having unprotected sex in the past three months, compared to 29.6 percent of teen mothers assigned to the control group, and this difference was statistically significant. In evidence consistent with one of the program’s main goals, we also found that teen mothers assigned to the treatment group were significantly more likely to report having received information on highly effective contraceptive methods, including LARCs. However, we found no evidence of statistically significant impacts on several other interim outcomes including use of LARCs in the preceding months.