Adolescent Pregnancy Clinical Trial
Official title:
Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention: Building Futures for Youth
The Building Futures for Youth (BFY) project is a pilot intervention program for 6th grade
students and their parents in the District of Columbia public school system. The full
intervention will include students in the 6th, 7th and 8th grades. The primary overall goal
of the project is to help students learn to make healthy life choices and delay sexual
initiation.
Sixth-grade children and parents in four Washington, D.C., public schools will be recruited
for this study. Children from two schools will participate in the BFY intervention program
and children from two other schools will serve as controls. Participants are guided through
three study phases, with each phase spanning one school year, as follows:
Sixth-grade students are given a foundation in goal setting, decision-making and
communication skills. They gain knowledge about puberty, reproduction, and the negative
consequences associated with having a child at a young age. They learn strategies for getting
out of situations in which they feel pressured to engage in sexual activity. Through lessons,
activities, and discussions they are given tools to answer the following questions:
- Who am I? Students engage in self-reflection activities and discussions that allow them
to become aware of their values, beliefs and strengths, increasing self-esteem and a
positive self-image.
- What do I want for my life? Students engage in goal-setting activities, creating
short-term and long-term goals and mapping out the necessary steps to achieve the goals.
- How do I get there? Students are instructed in decision-making, problem-solving and
communication skills.
- How can having sex too early affect my life and the goals I want to achieve? Students
explore the negative impact that engaging in sexual activity too early and getting
pregnant or getting someone pregnant can have on their emotional, social and financial
lives.
Seventh grade students are given the tools and skills necessary to deal with a variety of
challenges they may experience during their developmental years. They receive comprehensive
sex education, in conjunction with life skills such as relationship negotiation, dating
skills, violence prevention and problem-solving skills.
Eighth grade students are guided through a series of activities that encourage students to
translate knowledge gained in the 6th and 7th grade phases into long-term behavioral changes
and risk reduction. Activities include writing and performing skills, creating an
informational pamphlet, designing T-shirts and creating poetry that affirms the BFY message.
In addition, students participate in a program of community service projects, such as the
Anacostia River clean-up coordinated by the Earth Conservation Corps and Martin Luther King
Day events coordinated by Howard University's Community Association and Project Change.
Parents are provided skills training and information on a variety of issues relating to
adolescent sexuality, parental monitoring and parent-child communication.
The Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Project, or Building Futures for Youth, is embarking on a pilot year in order to test the effectiveness of a revised children's intervention for Grade 6. Although there was some evidence of a positive effect of the intervention for girls during Phase II, there were no significant effects for boys. In light of these findings, BFY will spend the current project year piloting a revised classroom intervention as well as a newly adapted after-school intervention component. ;
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