Resource Library

This brief was developed as part of a portfolio of youth-focused projects on sexual risk avoidance and cessation sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The brief presents two initial, complementary conceptual models—one for sexual risk avoidance and a second for sexual risk cessation—that aim to guide efforts to prevent youth risk behaviors and promote optimal health. The models identify a range of factors that research shows may influence youth decision making, sexual behavior, and related outcomes. These influencing factors occur at the environmental, interpersonal, or individual level, and many can be modified through intervention. To this end, the models may be used to guide and support efforts to develop and refine programs, tailor educational messages to youth, and empower parents and other adults to help youth avoid or cease sexual and non-sexual risk behaviors. In particular, the sexual risk cessation conceptual model is supporting the development of a sexual risk cessation program model and related supplemental curriculum module, intended to help sexually-experienced youth avoid sexual activity in the future.

This report documents the final findings from a large-scale demonstration project and evaluation of Teen Options to Prevent Pregnancy, an 18-month intervention designed specifically for pregnant and parenting adolescents with three key components: (1) telephone-based care coordination, (2) facilitated access to contraception, and (3) access to a social worker. The study reports the impacts of the program on sexual risk behaviors and repeat pregnancy at the time of program completion.

This study reports the final impact findings from a large-scale demonstration project and evaluation of POWER Through Choices, a comprehensive sexual health education curriculum designed specifically for youth in foster care and other out-of-home care settings. The study reports the long-term impacts of the program on measures of teen pregnancy and associated sexual risk behaviors. The findings build on an earlier report that examined the program’s interim impacts on measures of youth knowledge, attitudes, and intentions.

The Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) published Supporting Statewide Implementation of Evidence-Based Teen Pregnancy Prevention Programs: Findings from Four PREP Grantees.

We are happy to announce an exciting new PREP evaluation contract! The Studies of Performance Measures and Adult Preparation Subjects (PMAPS) contract has been awarded to Mathematica Policy Research .

HHS conducts regular reviews of the evidence base for teen pregnancy prevention programs. To that end, seven new programs have demonstrated evidence of effectiveness, which increases the number of programs meeting the criteria from 37 to 44.

On April 26-27, 2016, the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention (APP) Program hosted an in-person training on the overlapping nature of adolescent risk. The training sought to broaden grantees’ knowledge and awareness on complex issues that vulnerable youth often encounter.

The Family and Youth Services Bureau is sponsoring a federal evaluation of the PREP program. This report describes the overall goals of the study, explains how sites were selected, and provides an overview of the four sites.