Replication of the Teen Outreach Program in the Pacific Northwest

Northwest Coalition for Adolescent Health (NWCAH) Teen Outreach Program Replication Study

The Northwest Coalition for Adolescent Health (NWCAH) replicated the Teen Outreach Program (TOP) in five states across the pacific northwest including Idaho, Alaska, Montana, Oregon, and Washington. The purpose of this study is to measure: at the end of the program year, were TOP students less likely than control group students to report ever being pregnant or causing someone to be pregnant?

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Teenage Pregnancy
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: The Teen Outreach Program

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 8686
• Phase: Not Applicable

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 12 years to 18 years (Child, Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Has parental consent and student assent
• Attends one of the schools and/or classes chosen for the program

Exclusion Criteria:

• Lack of consent or assent

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: The Teen Outreach Program; TOP is a youth development and service learning program for youth designed to reduce teenage pregnancy and increase school success by helping youth develop a positive self-image, life management skills, and realistic goals. The TOP program model consists of three components implemented in school, after school, or in community settings over nine months: (1) weekly curriculum sessions, (2) community service learning, and (3) positive adult guidance and support. The TOP Changing Scenes Curriculum is separated into four age-/stage-appropriate levels, Level 1 is typically for youth ages 12 or 13 and Level 4 is typically for youth age 17. The intended program dosage for each participant is a minimum of 25 weekly sessions and at least 20 hours of community service learning over nine months. One or two facilitators, who plan the order of sessions based on the needs and interest of youth, implemented TOP in a group of 10 to 25 youth.	Behavioral: The Teen Outreach Program; Students received the Teen Outreach Program as described previously.
No Intervention: Control Group; Students in the control condition receive a benign intervention called the Community Voices (CV) program, which like TOP, meets in a group setting. The CV students are convened four times during the program year. Sessions are the same length as the TOP sessions. The first and last CV sessions are primarily focused on survey data gathering. At the two other sessions, CV students are convened to discuss current issues among young people in their community. The CV program specifically does not include any sexuality education or community service learning opportunities.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Pregnancies	In the spring at the end of the program year, did the Teen Outreach Program students report significantly fewer pregnancies or births than the students in the Community Voices (the counterfactual) program?	9 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Pregnancies at follow up	In the spring, one year following the end of the program year, did the Teen Outreach Program students report significantly fewer pregnancies or births than the students in the Community Voices (the counterfactual) program?	21 months
Sexual behavior	In the Spring, at the end of the program year, what is the impact of the Teen Outreach program relative to the Community Voices program (the counterfactual) on sexual behavior?	9 months
Contraceptive use	In the Spring, at the end of the program year, what is the impact of the Teen Outreach program relative to the Community Voices program (the counterfactual) on contraception use?	9 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Philliber Research & Evaluation
• Collaborators: The Office of Adolescent Health, HHS; Northwest Coalition of Adolescent Health
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Susan Philliber, PhD, Philliber Research Associates

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: September 1, 2011
• Primary Completion (Actual): August 1, 2015
• Study Completion (Actual): August 1, 2015

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: July 27, 2015
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 3, 2015
• First Posted (Estimate): August 4, 2015

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): September 16, 2020
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 14, 2020
• Last Verified: September 1, 2020

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: Philliber10-15ppgnw