Abstract
Two health education programs illustrating different ways to engage youth from racially and ethnically diverse backgrounds in positive youth development lessons and activities are described for practitioners in schools and community agencies. Both programs were developed in collaborative efforts between public school health teachers and community organizations and resulted in abstinence education curricula suitable for use in either schools or community agencies. Both programs were effective with youth from different racial and ethnic backgrounds in promoting setting wholesome personal goals, developing prosocial and healthy relationships, and avoiding risky behaviors such as premature sexual activity or abuse of alcohol and illegal drugs. Federal programs designed to prevent teen pregnancy facilitated the development and evaluation of both programs. ESTEEM was developed in Texas at the Longview Wellness Center and FACTS was developed in Oregon by Northwest Family Services.
Highlights
Unintended teen pregnancies are serious problems for the following reasons: 1) early prenatal care often is not received; 2) the fetus often is exposed to alcohol, tobacco, and drugs; 3) about half of all unintended pregnancies lead to abortions; 4) it is a risk factor for low birth weight, death in the first year of life, and neglect or abuse; 5) maternal depression is may occur; 6) physical abuse of the mother is a serious risk; 7) the couple’s relationship may be negatively affected; and 8) both mother and father may experience financial difficulties and difficulty in achieving educational and career goals (Brown & Eisenberg, 1995)
The ESTEEM curriculum for 7th and 8th graders was compared with an established, traditional abstinence education curriculum (FACTS) that was already being used by many schools, especially in Texas and in Oregon (Tobin, 2007)
The study was limited in that random assignment was not used and the groups were similar in many ways, differences that may have affected the results did exist, such as previous abstinence education classes
Summary
Unintended teen pregnancies are serious problems for the following reasons: 1) early prenatal care often is not received; 2) the fetus often is exposed to alcohol, tobacco, and drugs; 3) about half of all unintended pregnancies lead to abortions; 4) it is a risk factor for low birth weight, death in the first year of life, and neglect or abuse; 5) maternal depression is may occur; 6) physical abuse of the mother is a serious risk; 7) the couple’s relationship may be negatively affected; and 8) both mother and father may experience financial difficulties and difficulty in achieving educational and career goals (Brown & Eisenberg, 1995). ESTEEM and FACTS are two such creative ways These two health education programs are described to show two different ways to engage youth in positive youth development lessons. Both programs were effective with youth from different racial and ethnic backgrounds in promoting setting wholesome personal goals, developing prosocial and healthy relationships, and avoiding risky behaviors. During the 2004-2005, 2005-2006, 2006-2007, and 2007-2008 school years, ETAP was a Community-Based Abstinence Education program under the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) of the federal Department of Health and Human Services. The ETAP program made good use of formative evaluation over the years and continually improved their program, as illustrated Figure 1, showing post-intervention responses over the years
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