Evaluation of the Talking Matters Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program

Public Health Management Corporation

Status: Completed

Conditions: Pregnancy in Adolescence

Treatments: Behavioral: Talking Matters

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; Other U.S. Federal agency

Identifiers

NCT04970485

2003

Details and patient eligibility

About

A culturally tailored program that creates a safe, open space to increase knowledge, self-efficacy, skills, and comfort related to sexual and reproductive health, including HIV/STI and teen pregnancy prevention, mental health, and substance use risk reduction behavior, and strengthens protective factors, decision-making skills, and connections to trusted adults may help participants chart a path toward optimal health. To address a significant gap in evidence-based, culturally-tailored sexual and reproductive health services for Black and African American adolescents, Public Health Management Corporation (PHMC) is conducting a rigorous evaluation of an innovative group-level, two pronged intervention called Talking Matters using an individual randomized control trial (RCT) design. Due to social distancing guidelines during COVID-19 at the start of the study, all Talking Matters activities, including recruitment, screening, consent, intervention implementation, and data collection, will be conduct virtually and remotely.

Developed and piloted over the past two years through FY2018 Phase I New and Innovative Strategies (Tier 2) to Prevent Teen Pregnancy and Promote Healthy Adolescence funding from the Office of Population Affairs (OPA), Talking Matters is a promising group-level, two-pronged intervention tailored for urban Black and African American 14 to 19 year old adolescents who are recruited from school- and community-based settings in Philadelphia, PA. Grounded in Social Cognitive Theory, the Transtheoretical Model, and Self-Determination Theory, and using evidence-based Motivational Interviewing strategies, the primary goals of Talking Matters are to reduce adolescents' risk for teen and unplanned pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV, and to strengthen protective factors improve optimal health.

The two prongs of Talking Matters include (1) an adolescent-focused five-session, group-level intervention called We Get to Choose (WGTC) and (2) an adult-focused three-session, group-level training called Let's Talk Real Talk (LTRT). An opportunity to connect WGTC participants to trusted adults who completed LTRT is provided during one facilitated session conducted each quarter. Adult participants of the LTRT training are not human subjects of the Talking Matters study.

Enrollment: 321 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 14 to 19 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Identifies as Black or African American
• 14 to 19 years old at baseline
• Lives in Philadelphia, PA
• English-speaking
• Able to or will be able to obtain access to the internet through a phone, tablet, or computer

Exclusion criteria

• Does not identify as Black or African American
• Less than 14 years old or 20 years or older at baseline
• Does not live in Philadelphia, PA
• Unable to speak or understand English
• Unable to access internet through a phone, tablet, or computer

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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321 participants in 2 patient groups

Talking Matters intervention

Experimental group

Description:

Talking Matters is a group-level, two-pronged intervention for Black and African American 14 to 19 year old adolescents recruited from school- and community-based settings in Philadelphia, PA. Goals are to reduce teens' risk for unplanned pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections, and HIV, and to strengthen protective factors to improve health. The two prongs include (1) an adolescent-focused five-session, group-level intervention called We Get to Choose (WGTC) covering sexual and reproductive health (SRH) knowledge and skills, decision making and self-worth, healthy relationships, substance use and mental health; and (2) an adult-focused three-session, group-level training called Let's Talk Real Talk (LTRT) to build SRH knowledge and skills to communicate with teens about SRH. An opportunity to connect WGTC participants to trusted adults who completed LTRT is provided during one facilitated session conducted each quarter. LTRT participants are not human subjects of the study.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Talking Matters

Control Group

No Intervention group

Description:

Business as usual