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Becoming a Responsible Teen (BART)

An Evidence-Based Practice

Description

Becoming a Responsible Teen (BART) is a group-level, education and behavior skills training intervention designed to reduce risky sexual behaviors and improve safer sex skills among African American adolescents. The 8 intervention sessions, delivered to groups of 5-15 youth, provide information on HIV and related risk behaviors and the importance of abstinence and risk reduction.

Through discussions, games, videos, presentations, demonstrations, role plays, and practice, adolescents learn problem solving, decision-making, communication, condom negotiation, behavioral self-management, and condom use skills. The participants also have a discussion with local, HIV-positive youth to promote risk recognition and improve their perception of vulnerability.

Goal / Mission

The goals of this intervention include: increasing information and skills to make sound choices, increasing abstinence, and eliminating or reducing sex risk behaviors.

Impact

Among teens who participated, there was a decrease in sexual activity compared to those who did not participate in the program. Also among participants, there was an increase in sexual intercourse occasions that were condom-protected.

Results / Accomplishments

The program was evaluated using an experimental study design with randomly assigned intervention and control groups. Overall, a significantly lower percentage of intervention youth reported being sexually active compared to comparison youth at the 12 month follow-up. Sexually active intervention youth reported a significantly greater percentage of sexual intercourse occasions that were condom-protected than comparison youth at the 6-month and 12-month follow-ups.

The portion of youth who participated in the program were significantly less sexually active (p<.05).

About this Promising Practice

Organization(s)
ETR Associates and Mississippi State University-Meridian
Primary Contact
Janet S. St. Lawrence, Ph.D.
Mississippi State University, Meridian
1000 Highway 19 North
Meridian, MS 39307
jlawrence@meridian.msstate.edu
http://meridian.msstate.edu/
Topics
Health / Family Planning
Health / Adolescent Health
Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases
Organization(s)
ETR Associates and Mississippi State University-Meridian
Source
CDC
Date of publication
1995
Location
Jackson, Mississippi
For more details
https://www.etr.org/ebi/programs/becoming-a-respon...
https://www.hhs.gov/ash/oah/sites/default/files/as...
Target Audience
Teens, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Related Promising Practices

  1. HIV/STD Risk Reduction Interventions for African American and Latino Adolescent Girls
  2. HIV Prevention Intervention for African American Adolescent Girls
  3. Sister to Sister
  4. Video Opportunities for Innovative Condom Education and Safer Sex (VOICES/VOCES)

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Related Content for: Becoming a Responsible Teen (BART)

An Evidence-Based Practice meets the following HCI criteria:

  1. The program description includes at a minimum: the sponsoring organization, program goals, program implementation steps, and outcomes that have demonstrated program success in achieving the program goal in one or more localities.
  2. The results from an evaluation of the program include quantitative measures showing improvement in the outcome(s) of interest after the implementation of the program (i.e. increase in smoking cessation, not just the delivery of a smoking cessation program). The outcome measure(s) is/are compared at relevant time periods before and after the intervention or program implementation. Alternatively, the evaluation study compares the outcome(s) between an intervention group and an appropriate control group.
  3. The study is of peer-review quality and presents numbers in a scientific manner; measurements of precision and reliability are included (e.g. confidence intervals, standard errors), results from statistical tests show a significant difference or change in the outcome measure(s), and relevant point estimates and p-values are presented. Note: if the results from an evaluation of a program are presented in a scientific manner and the outcome measure is improved compared to the baseline measurement or the control group but the difference is not statistically significant, the practice is classified as effective and not evidence-based.
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