Evaluation of an Evidence-Based Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program Implemented in Real-World Settings

Introduction: Adolescent risky sexual behavior leads to adverse effects on health outcomes, such as sexually transmitted infections (STI) and unintended pregnancy. Project AIM (Adult Identity Mentoring) has been found to effectively modify sexual risk behaviors in efficacy trials. Research has yet to be conducted that examines the impact of Project AIM when implemented by community members rather than researchers. This study serves as a project evaluation of Project AIM when implemented by police officers to their Junior ROTC (Reserve Officer Training Corps) classes. It was hypothesized that there would be improvements in hope and reductions in attitudes approving of risky sexual and substance use behaviors, but that there would be no differences in sexual health behaviors.

Method: Fifteen classes from three public high schools in a large school district in the southeastern United States received Project AIM. Students ranged from 13 to 17 years old. The racial/ethnic composition of the sample was approximately 64 % African American and 30% Caucasian American. Six officers from the city’s police department received a two- to four-day training in Project AIM implementation. Officers implemented Project AIM through the Junior ROTC program in three high schools to ninth, tenth, and eleventh grade students. Students completed surveys assessing their hope for the future, academic engagement, beliefs about sex, beliefs about substance use, and actual sexual health behaviors at baseline and following completion of the program (13 weeks later).

Results: Repeated measures ANOVAs will be conducted to examine change in the outcomes of interest from pre to posttest. Exploratory analyses will be conducted to determine whether effects are different across type of high school. In addition, regression analyses will be conducted to determine whether the degree of change is moderated by gender or race.

Discussion: Because this is a program evaluation of a real-world implementation, there is no control group, which can be a problem in prevention research given that the goal of some prevention programs is to slow down a trajectory rather than to reduce the baseline level of behavior. However, the original Project AIM efficacy trials identified reductions in sexual risk behaviors from pretest to posttest. Therefore, this study can determine whether that finding is replicated in under these conditions. This study has important implications for the effectiveness of evidence-based pregnancy prevention programs when implemented within a community without researcher involvement.