Conducting rigorous research with subgroups of at-risk youth: lessons learned from a teen pregnancy prevention project in Alaska
In 2010, Alaska Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS) received federal funding to test an evidence-based teen pregnancy prevention program. The grant required a major modification to an existing program and a randomized control trial (RCT) to test its effectiveness. As the major modificati...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:6eaccfd74fe843d8a60f8aad05c9e21a 2023-05-15T15:16:16+02:00 Conducting rigorous research with subgroups of at-risk youth: lessons learned from a teen pregnancy prevention project in Alaska Kathryn Hohman-Billmeier Margaret Nye Stephanie Martin 2016-12-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3402/ijch.v75.31776 https://doaj.org/article/6eaccfd74fe843d8a60f8aad05c9e21a EN eng Taylor & Francis Group http://www.circumpolarhealthjournal.net/index.php/ijch/article/view/31776/pdf_127 https://doaj.org/toc/2242-3982 2242-3982 doi:10.3402/ijch.v75.31776 https://doaj.org/article/6eaccfd74fe843d8a60f8aad05c9e21a International Journal of Circumpolar Health, Vol 75, Iss 0, Pp 1-7 (2016) at-risk youth randomized control trials Alaska youth peer education evidence based interventions sexual health education curriculum Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 article 2016 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3402/ijch.v75.31776 2022-12-31T12:51:13Z In 2010, Alaska Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS) received federal funding to test an evidence-based teen pregnancy prevention program. The grant required a major modification to an existing program and a randomized control trial (RCT) to test its effectiveness. As the major modifications, Alaska used peer educators instead of adults to deliver the program to youth aged 14–19 instead of the original curriculum intended age range of 12–14. Cultural and approach adaptations were included as well. After 4 years of implementation and data collection, the sample was too small to provide statistically significant results. The lack of findings gave no information about the modification, nor any explanation of how the curriculum was received, or reasons for the small sample. This paper reports on a case study follow-up to the RCT to better understand outcome and implementation results. For this study, researchers reviewed project documents and interviewed peer educators, state and local staff, and evaluators. Three themes emerged from the data: (a) the professional growth of peer educators and development of peer education, (b) difficulties resulting from curriculum content, especially for subpopulations of sexually active youth, youth identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and/or asexual, pregnant, and parenting youth and (c) the appropriateness of an RCT with subpopulations of at-risk youth. Three recommendations emerged from the case study. First, including as many stakeholders as possible in the program and evaluation design phases is essential, and must be supported by appropriate funding streams and training. Second, there must be recognition of the multiple small subpopulations found in Alaska when adapting programs designed for a larger and more homogeneous population. Third, RCTs may not be appropriate for all population subgroups. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Circumpolar Health International Journal of Circumpolar Health Alaska Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic International Journal of Circumpolar Health 75 1 31776 |
institution |
Open Polar |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
at-risk youth randomized control trials Alaska youth peer education evidence based interventions sexual health education curriculum Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 |
spellingShingle |
at-risk youth randomized control trials Alaska youth peer education evidence based interventions sexual health education curriculum Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Kathryn Hohman-Billmeier Margaret Nye Stephanie Martin Conducting rigorous research with subgroups of at-risk youth: lessons learned from a teen pregnancy prevention project in Alaska |
topic_facet |
at-risk youth randomized control trials Alaska youth peer education evidence based interventions sexual health education curriculum Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 |
description |
In 2010, Alaska Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS) received federal funding to test an evidence-based teen pregnancy prevention program. The grant required a major modification to an existing program and a randomized control trial (RCT) to test its effectiveness. As the major modifications, Alaska used peer educators instead of adults to deliver the program to youth aged 14–19 instead of the original curriculum intended age range of 12–14. Cultural and approach adaptations were included as well. After 4 years of implementation and data collection, the sample was too small to provide statistically significant results. The lack of findings gave no information about the modification, nor any explanation of how the curriculum was received, or reasons for the small sample. This paper reports on a case study follow-up to the RCT to better understand outcome and implementation results. For this study, researchers reviewed project documents and interviewed peer educators, state and local staff, and evaluators. Three themes emerged from the data: (a) the professional growth of peer educators and development of peer education, (b) difficulties resulting from curriculum content, especially for subpopulations of sexually active youth, youth identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and/or asexual, pregnant, and parenting youth and (c) the appropriateness of an RCT with subpopulations of at-risk youth. Three recommendations emerged from the case study. First, including as many stakeholders as possible in the program and evaluation design phases is essential, and must be supported by appropriate funding streams and training. Second, there must be recognition of the multiple small subpopulations found in Alaska when adapting programs designed for a larger and more homogeneous population. Third, RCTs may not be appropriate for all population subgroups. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Kathryn Hohman-Billmeier Margaret Nye Stephanie Martin |
author_facet |
Kathryn Hohman-Billmeier Margaret Nye Stephanie Martin |
author_sort |
Kathryn Hohman-Billmeier |
title |
Conducting rigorous research with subgroups of at-risk youth: lessons learned from a teen pregnancy prevention project in Alaska |
title_short |
Conducting rigorous research with subgroups of at-risk youth: lessons learned from a teen pregnancy prevention project in Alaska |
title_full |
Conducting rigorous research with subgroups of at-risk youth: lessons learned from a teen pregnancy prevention project in Alaska |
title_fullStr |
Conducting rigorous research with subgroups of at-risk youth: lessons learned from a teen pregnancy prevention project in Alaska |
title_full_unstemmed |
Conducting rigorous research with subgroups of at-risk youth: lessons learned from a teen pregnancy prevention project in Alaska |
title_sort |
conducting rigorous research with subgroups of at-risk youth: lessons learned from a teen pregnancy prevention project in alaska |
publisher |
Taylor & Francis Group |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3402/ijch.v75.31776 https://doaj.org/article/6eaccfd74fe843d8a60f8aad05c9e21a |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Circumpolar Health International Journal of Circumpolar Health Alaska |
genre_facet |
Arctic Circumpolar Health International Journal of Circumpolar Health Alaska |
op_source |
International Journal of Circumpolar Health, Vol 75, Iss 0, Pp 1-7 (2016) |
op_relation |
http://www.circumpolarhealthjournal.net/index.php/ijch/article/view/31776/pdf_127 https://doaj.org/toc/2242-3982 2242-3982 doi:10.3402/ijch.v75.31776 https://doaj.org/article/6eaccfd74fe843d8a60f8aad05c9e21a |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3402/ijch.v75.31776 |
container_title |
International Journal of Circumpolar Health |
container_volume |
75 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
31776 |
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