An Evaluation of Re:MIX: a Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program With Young Parents as Peer Educators, EngenderHealth

Summary

This study uses a cluster-level randomized controlled design to evaluate the efficacy of Re:MIX in reducing the incidences of early sexual behavior, unprotected sex, oral sex, pregnancy, and STIs. Re:MIX is a comprehensive in-school health curriculum and teen pregnancy prevention program for adolescents covering a broad range of topics related to sexual health and youth development, including healthy relationships, communication, gender, consent, reproductive anatomy, contraception, sexual decision making, clinics, parenthood, and life planning. Re:MIX also aims to connect students and peer educators with community resources and service linkages. The Re:MIX curriculum teaches mixed-gender groups of students in grades 8 to 10 to delay sex and use protection if they have sex. A co-facilitation team of young parent educators delivered the information with professional health educators using non-traditional approaches, such as game-based tools, technology, and storytelling. Youth received roughly nine hours and 10 minutes of group sessions during the school day over one semester (55 minutes per week for 10 weeks). Participants were in 8th, 9th, and 10th graders attending three public charter schools in Travis County, Texas. Comparison classes either received an alternative program that focused on health, nutrition, and fitness, or business as usual. This study was conducted as a Rigorous Evaluation of New or Innovative Approaches to Prevent Teen Pregnancy funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Adolescent Health.

Conditions

• Sexual Behavior
• Unprotected Sex

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Re:MIX, a multi-layer comprehensive teen pregnancy prevention intervention aimed at reducing pregnancy and STIs among youth ages 13-17

Re:MIX is a comprehensive in-school health curriculum and teen pregnancy prevention program for adolescents covering a broad range of topics related to sexual health and youth development, including healthy relationships, communication, gender, consent, reproductive anatomy, contraception, sexual decision making, clinics, parenthood, and life planning. Re:MIX also aims to connect students and young parent educators with community resources and service linkages. The Re:MIX curriculum teaches mixed-gender groups of students in grades 8 to 10 to delay sex and use protection if they have sex. A co-facilitation team of young parent educators delivered the information with professional health educators using non-traditional approaches, such as game-based tools, technology, and storytelling. Youth received roughly nine hours and 10 minutes of group sessions during the school day over one semester (55 minutes per week for 10 weeks).

Sponsors & Collaborators

• EngenderHealth

  collaborator OTHER

• University of Texas at Austin

  collaborator OTHER

• The Office of Adolescent Health, HHS

  collaborator FED

• Child Trends

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Jennifer Manlove, PhD · Child Trends, Senior Program Area Director

• Monica Armendariz · EngenderHealth: Project Director/Co-Principal Investigator

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

12 Years

Max Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2016-07-31

Primary Completion

2019-12-17

Completion

2020-04-30

Countries

• United States

Study Locations