Testing the Effectiveness of the Full and Abridged Relationship Smarts Curriculum for 9th Grade Students

Testing the Effectiveness of the Full and Abridged Versions of the Relationship Smarts Curriculum for 9th Grade Students

This evaluation will test the program effectiveness of a relationship education program (Relationship Smarts PLUS)and an abridged version of the program to 9th Grade Students on outcomes of knowledge. It will test 1) whether the Relationship Smarts (RS) Curriculum is more effective than a control curriculum of job-readiness programming, and 2) whether an abridged 8-lesson version of the RS Curriculum can be as effective as the full 12-lesson version.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Attitudes; Knowledge
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Job Readiness Curriculum; Behavioral: Healthy Relationship Education

Detailed Description

MTCI plans to deliver the Relationship Smarts PLUS (RS+) education curriculum to youth in high schools during the regular school day. RS+ is a widely-implemented healthy relationship education curriculum that aligns with the Georgia Department of Education performance standards in health education. The curriculum features 12 lessons covering such topics as healthy relationships, dating violence prevention, communication skills, conflict management, and decision making. MORE THAN CONQUERORS, INC. (MTCI) plans to deliver the curriculum to 9th grade students as part of a required, semester-long health class. The program will be delivered by trained facilitators from MTCI in coordination with each participating school.

To be eligible to participate, students must be enrolled in one of the targeted health classes and have permission from a parent or guardian to participate in both the MATURE Plus II program and the STREAMS evaluation.The study plans to enroll 1,840 students over the entire two-year evaluation period.

At the start of each semester, the targeted sections of 9th grade health class will be randomly assigned into one of three research groups: (1) a group that receives the full, 12-lesson RS+ curriculum, (2) a group that receives a "summary" 8-lesson version of the RS+ curriculum and four lessons on career planning and job readiness, or (3) a control group that receives lessons on career planning and job readiness without any lessons from the RS+ curriculum.

All students for whom consent and assent have been obtained will be asked to complete three surveys: (1) a baseline survey administered in health class near the start of the semester, (2) a post-program survey administered in health class near the end of the semester, and (3) a one-year follow-up survey administered about 12 months after the baseline survey, during 10th grade

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 1180
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Georgia
    • Conyers, Georgia, United States, 30094
      • More Than Conquerors, Inc.

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 11 years to 16 years (Child)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• high school students in 9th grade health classes
• must be enrolled in one of the targeted health classes
• permission from a parent or guardian to participate in both the program and the evaluation

Exclusion Criteria:

• non-students
• students in other grades of high school
• students not enrolled in health class
• students without parental permission to participate

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

3

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Placebo Comparator: Control; Control group members will receive a job readiness curriculum entitled Beginning to Work it Out (BWIO) that assists at-risk youth who are preparing for first-time employment. Topics include recognizing how personal beliefs and behaviors may be perceived in the workplace, as well as "soft skills" such as emotional self-management and problem-solving skills.	Behavioral: Job Readiness Curriculum; Beginning to Work it Out (BWIO) assists youth who are preparing for first-time employment. Topics include recognizing how personal beliefs and behaviors may be perceived in the workplace, as well as "soft skills" such as emotional self-management and problem-solving skills.
Experimental: Full Relationship Smarts Curriculum; This group receives the behavioral intervention of the healthy relationship education in the form of the full, 12-lesson RS+ curriculum over approximately 12 weeks.	Behavioral: Healthy Relationship Education; RS+ is a widely-implemented healthy relationship education curriculum that aligns with the Georgia Department of Education performance standards in health education. The full curriculum features 12 lessons covering such topics as healthy relationships, dating violence prevention, communication skills, conflict management, and decision making.
Experimental: Abridged Relationship Smarts Curriculum; This group receives the behavioral intervention of the healthy relationship education in the form of the "summary" 8-lesson version of the RS+ curriculum - as well as four lessons on career planning and job readiness over approximately 12 weeks.	Behavioral: Job Readiness Curriculum; Beginning to Work it Out (BWIO) assists youth who are preparing for first-time employment. Topics include recognizing how personal beliefs and behaviors may be perceived in the workplace, as well as "soft skills" such as emotional self-management and problem-solving skills.; Behavioral: Healthy Relationship Education; RS+ is a widely-implemented healthy relationship education curriculum that aligns with the Georgia Department of Education performance standards in health education. The full curriculum features 12 lessons covering such topics as healthy relationships, dating violence prevention, communication skills, conflict management, and decision making.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Perceived general relationship skills	Six-item scale (range: 1 to 4)	one year after random assignment
Perceived conflict management skills	Five-item scale (range: 1 to 4)	one year after random assignment
Disapproval of teen dating violence	Twelve-item scale (range: 1 to 4)	one year after random assignment
Constraining beliefs about marriage	Series of three separate continuous variables (range: 1 to 4)	one year after random assignment
Knowledge of pregnancy and STIs	Continuous index variable: sum of correct responses to five true/false statements	one year after random assignment
Desire to avoid teen pregnancy	series of three separate continuous variables (range: 1 to 4)	one year after random assignment

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.
• Collaborators: Department of Health and Human Services

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): August 1, 2016
• Primary Completion (Actual): April 1, 2019
• Study Completion (Actual): August 1, 2021

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: July 8, 2016
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 11, 2016
• First Posted (Estimate): July 14, 2016

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): April 22, 2022
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 20, 2022
• Last Verified: April 1, 2022

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: MPR-500098-MTC

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: YES
• IPD Plan Description: Restricted use files will be made available to researchers through the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) at the University of Michigan
• IPD Sharing Time Frame: Mid-2022
• IPD Sharing Access Criteria: Yet to be determined.