Featured Grant OpportunitySchool Emergency Response to Violence (Project SERV) (Funding Opportunity) 

Featured Grant OpportunityShare with Youth: NOAA Student Opportunities Database

Featured Grant OpportunityShort Courses in Social Determinants of Health for Research Education in Nursing Research (Funding...

Featured Grant OpportunityComprehensive Partnerships to Advance Cancer Health Equity (CPACHE) Program (Funding Opportunity)

Featured Grant OpportunityRisk and Protective Factors of Family Health and Family Level Interventions (Funding Opportunity)

Featured Grant OpportunityPersonnel Development to Improve Services and Results for Children with Disabilities--Doctoral...

Featured Grant OpportunityStanding Announcement for Tribal Title IV-E Plan Development Grants (Funding Opportunity)

Featured Grant OpportunityProviding Research Education Experiences to Enhance Inclusivity for a Diverse Substance Use and...

Featured Grant OpportunityFY 2024 Research on School-Based Hate Crimes (Funding Opportunity)

Featured Grant OpportunityChallenge America (Funding Opportunity)

Featured Grant OpportunityResearch and Evaluation on Firearm Violence and Mass Shootings (Funding Opportunity)

Featured Grant OpportunityNational Juvenile Court Data Archive (Funding Opportunity)

Featured Grant OpportunityGraduate Research Fellowship (Funding Opportunity)

Featured Grant OpportunityCommunity Programs for Outreach and Intervention with Youth and Young Adults at Clinical High Risk...

Featured Grant OpportunityPrint and Disseminate Child Victims and Witnesses Support Materials (Funding Opportunity)

## Breadcrumb

            -  Evidence and Innovation 
            -  Teen Pregnancy Prevention Evidence Review 
            -  Programs 
            -           Sisters Saving Sisters      

# Sisters Saving Sisters

- Program Information
- Program Overview
- Program Description
- Program Component Table
- Program Implementation

- Research Evidence
- Reviewed Studies
- Study Characteristics
- Study Findings

The program was designed for and evaluated in a community-based clinic setting.

Nancy Gonzalez-Caro, MPHEvidence-Based Product SpecialistETR100 Enterprise Way, Suite G300Scotts Valley, CA 95066Phone: 1-800-321-4407Website: http://www.etr.org/ebi/programs/sisters-saving-sisters/

Cody Sigel, MPH, CHESHealth Education Training CoordinatorETR1333 Broadway, Suite P110Oakland, CA 94612Phone: 510-858-0995Website: http://www.etr.org/ebi/programs/sisters-saving-sisters/

Program component data is not available.

The curriculum is comprised of five modules:
                        - Module 1:  Introduction and Overview
                        - Module 2:  Understanding Personal Vulnerability
                        - Module 3:  Developing Condom Use Skills
                        - Module 4:  Improving Sexual Choices and Negotiation Skills
                        - Module 5:  Role-Play, AIDS Basketball, and Review

The five-session curriculum addresses four types of core  behavioral beliefs and outcome expectancies:
                        - Goals and Dreams Beliefs:  The belief that unprotected sex can interfere with one’s goals and dreams for education and a career.  In Session 1, the participants engage in a goals and dreams activity and discuss obstacles to goals and dreams.  Having unprotected sex is listed and discussed as an obstacle.  This belief is also incorporated throughout the curriculum. 
                        - Prevention Beliefs:  The belief that condoms can reduce the risk of pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases and HIV/AIDS.  This belief is incorporated throughout the curriculum. 
                        - Partner-Reaction Beliefs:  The belief that one’s boyfriend/girlfriend would not approve of condom use and will react negatively to it.  This belief may prevent a person from negotiating condom use.  In Sessions 4 and 5, participants learn and practice how to use negotiation and refusal skills to communicate with their partners about safer sex. 
                        - Hedonistic Beliefs:  The belief that condom use interferes with sexual pleasure.  For example, many people believe that condoms reduce physical sensations during sexual activity or ruin the mood. Therefore, they are less likely to use condoms during sexual intercourse.  In Sessions 4 and 5, youth learn that sex is still fun and pleasurable when a condom is used and are taught how to incorporate this belief into role-play scenarios.

Sisters Saving Sisters aims to create a youth-centered, positive learning environment for adolescent girls. The program engages participants in activities such as role-playing where all participants learn, practice and receive feedback on their negotiation and refusal skills in various role-play scenarios. They handle and practice correct placement of condoms using anatomical models. The curriculum also discusses the barriers to condom use such as alcohol and drug use.

The program's activities incorporate social cognitive-behavioral skill-building strategies (i.e., presentation, modeling, and the practice of abstinence negotiation skills). The curriculum involves culturally appropriate video clips, games, brainstorming, role-playing, skill-building activities and small group discussions that build group cohesion and enhance learning. Each activity lasts a brief time, and most are active exercises in which the adolescents get out of their seats and interact with each other.

                        - They must have attended the 2-day training and be well trained in the program.
                        - They must be able to use highly participatory and interactive skills.
                        - They must be able to work with youth and relate to them and their life circumstances. 
                        - They must believe in the teens and believe in their resilience. 

Staffing should consist of 1 facilitator for 6 to 8 youth as well as support staff to assist if the program is delivered in larger class size settings.

                        - Facilitator Curriculum
                        - Activity Set (hand-outs, posters, role-play cards)
                        - Curriculum DVDs  	- Nicole's Choice  	- The Hard Way  	- The Subject Is: HIV (Safer Sex)  	- The Subject Is: STDs (Safer Sex)  	- Wrap It Up & Condom Animation

The developers provide specific fidelity guidelines consisting of core components, key characteristics and logic model. Fidelity monitoring checklists are also available. Adaptation guidance can be found on ETR’s Program Success Center website: http://www.etr.org/ebi/programs/sisters-saving-sisters/

Developers have identified three areas where there may be challenges to fidelity:
                        - Peer-facilitation:  Two peers should not implement this intervention. The best way to use peers is to have a peer co-facilitate with an adult facilitator.
                        - Integration into a normal classroom setting:  In normal classroom settings, the time frame is about 45 minutes. The Sisters Saving Sisters intervention modules are each 55 minutes long. Therefore, to identify strategies on how to integrate the program into a classroom setting with fidelity, providers must request technical assistance.
                        - Implementing this curriculum with large groups of more than 15 students : This intervention was evaluated with adolescent females in small groups of about 6 to 8 youth in a group. For larger group settings, providers may need additional training.

It is highly recommended that educators who plan to teach Sisters Saving Sisters receive research-based professional development to prepare them to effectively implement and replicate the curriculum with fidelity for the intended target group.

Training on Sisters Saving Sisters is available through ETR's Professional Learning Services. Visit http://www.etr.org/ebi/training-ta/types-of-services/training-of-educators/ for more information or submit a Training & TA Request Form (http://www.etr.org/solutions/professional-development/training-ta-request-form/).

https://programsupport.etr.org/http://www.etr.org/ebi/training-ta/

                        - The "Sisters Saving Sisters" curriculum was designed to be used with smaller groups ranging from two to eight participants, but can be implemented with larger numbers, in consultation with the developer.
                        - It is appropriate for various community settings, including schools, and youth agencies.
                        - The five-hour intervention may be delivered in different ways, such as 1 module a day for 5 days or 1-2 modules per day over 3-4 days.  
                        - The original study used Latina and African-American female facilitators.  The program may be implemented using facilitators of different ethnic or professional backgrounds, so long as the facilitators are trained, possess the skills and characteristics of a good facilitator, and have experience working with teens.
                        - Teens of different racial and ethnic groups may participate, and changing the names and settings of the situations in the role-plays to reflect the culture of participants is allowed.

### Evidence by Outcome Domain and Study

#### Notes

*Some study entries may include more than one citation because each citation examines a different follow-up period from the same study sample, or because each citation examines a different set of outcome measures on the same study sample. A blank cell indicates the study did not examine any outcome measures within the particular outcome domain or the findings for the outcome measures within that domain did not meet the review evidence standards.*

*Information on evidence of effectiveness is available only for studies that received a high or moderate rating. Read the description of the review process for more information on how these programs are identified.*