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Mathematica to Evaluate Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Approaches
Contact: Cheryl Pedersen, (609) 275-2258
PRINCETON, N.J. (November 19, 2009)—Adolescent sexual activity and its consequences remain a troubling issue in the United States. After a steady decline since the early 1990s, the teen birth rate has begun to climb since 2006. Mathematica Policy Research has been awarded a contract from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Family and Youth Services Bureau, to conduct the Evaluation of Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Approaches. This eight-year random assignment evaluation is documenting evidence on effective ways to reduce teen nonmarital sexual activity, pregnancy, and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).
Mathematica’s rigorous experimental impact evaluation is testing a range of promising approaches focused primarily on high-school-age youth in up to eight sites and documenting the services they deliver. The study is testing the effectiveness of each program by comparing outcomes with those of a control group in the same site.
The study addresses three main questions:
- How are specific pregnancy prevention programs expected to work? What are their underlying philosophies and missions? What resources do they require? What local partnerships and supports are crucial, and how are parents and community organizations involved? What curricula are used? How long and intensive are the programs? How do programs differ from alternative services available locally?
- How well are the programs delivered? How much do youth actually participate, and what are their views of the programs? Are the messages and services they receive different or more intensive than what is available to other youth in the area who are not involved in the programs? How closely do messages and activities correspond to a program’s vision? What factors affect participation? How does local community context affect a program?
- What is the impact on youth? Do the pregnancy prevention programs reduce sexual activity, the incidence and risks of STDs, and nonmarital pregnancy and births? Which groups of teens are more or less affected?
The evaluation team is collecting baseline data from youth who agree to participate in the evaluation (with parental consent), and then administering two follow-up surveys. The survey data measure program impacts on abstinence, sexual activity and pregnancy, other risk behaviors (for example, alcohol use), and related outcomes (for example, depression and school completion).
Alan Hershey, a senior fellow at Mathematica, who specializes in designing, implementing, and managing major policy evaluations of programs for vulnerable populations, directs the project. Chris Trenholm, associate director of health research at Mathematica and an expert in youth risk reduction programs and maternal and child health, is co-director and principal investigator. Laura Kalb, a senior survey researcher who specializes in large-scale surveys of children and youth, is the survey director. Subcontractors for the evaluation include Child Trends; National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy; Twin Peaks Partners, LLC; Public Strategies, Inc.; and the National Abstinence Education Association.
“There is an urgent need for a more robust evidence base on effectiveness of interventions to reduce teen pregnancy and its consequences,” said Hershey. “This study will expand the range of interventions tested by solid research.”
Mathematica launched a new website to track the evaluation’s progress. For more information, go to www.pregnancypreventionapproaches.info/. An implementation report will be available after all sites have enrolled their samples or begun delivering services. In addition, two reports on programs impacts are scheduled for 2014 and 2016.
Mathematica Policy Research, a nonpartisan research firm, provides a full range of research and data collection services, including program evaluation and policy research, survey design and data collection, research assessment and interpretation, and program performance/data management, to improve public well-being. Its clients include federal and state governments, foundations, and private-sector and international organizations. The employee-owned company, with offices in Princeton, N.J., Ann Arbor, Mich., Cambridge, Mass., Chicago, Ill., Oakland, Calif., and Washington, D.C., has conducted some of the most important studies of family support, health care, education, employment, nutrition, and early childhood policies and programs.