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## Breadcrumb

            -  Evidence and Innovation 
            -  Teen Pregnancy Prevention Evidence Review 
            -  Programs 
            -           Safer Choices      

# Safer Choices

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

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

The program was designed to be implemented in a classroom-based, school setting, and was also evaluated in this setting.

http://www.etr.org/ebi/programs/safer-choices/

http://www.etr.org/ebi/programs/safer-choices/

Program component data is not available.

                        - Increasing students' knowledge about HIV and other STDs.
                        - Promoting more positive attitudes and peer norms toward abstinence and condom use.
                        - Increasing students' belief in their ability (self-efficacy) to refuse sex or unprotected sex, use a condom, and communicate about safer sexual practices.
                        - Decreasing perceived barriers to condom use.
                        - Aligning students' perceptions of risk for HIV and other STDs based on their risk behaviors.
                        - Increasing communication with parents.

                        - Component 1 -  School Organization:  The program begins with schools establishing a Health Promotion Council, composed of teachers, students, parents, administrators, and community members. The Council has lead responsibility for organizing and planning the other four components of the program.
                        - Component 2 - Curriculum:  The 21-session curriculum is taught over two years. It uses interactive activities to provide information about HIV and STDs; teach effective condom use, refusal skills, and decision-making skills; and promote positive attitudes and norms about refusing sex and using condoms. Peer leaders, selected by their classmates, facilitate several activities.
                        - Component 3 - Peer Resources and School Environment:  Each school convenes a student organization to reinforce the curricular messages in the broader school environment through school-wide activities, events, and services. Suggested activities include publishing articles in school media, presenting dramatic skits, or organizing speakers and assemblies.
                        - Component 4 - Parent Education:  Schools engage parents in the program’s goals through newsletters, child-parent discussions on sexuality topics, and parent education workshops or speakers.
                        - Component 5 - School-Community Linkages:  This component seeks to connect students with community resources such as local information hotlines, clinics, and testing services. Students receive homework assignments that require them to find out more about the services available in the community.

The program logic model can be found on ETR's website: http://www.etr.org/ebi/programs/safer-choices/.

The curriculum component of Safer Choices consists of twenty-one 45-minute sessions over two years: 11 lessons in level 1, taught during 9th grade, and 10 lessons in level 2, taught during 10th grade. The program relies on 5 to 8 peer educators from each classroom. The other components of the program are conducted in parallel with the delivery of the curriculum.

Implementation of the complete school-wide program also involves selecting a site coordinator, establishing a school health promotion council, providing staff development, establishing a peer team to conduct school-wide activities, promoting family involvement and parent education, and creating school-community linkages.

Core intervention materials are a teacher's guide for each level, student workbooks for each level, peer leader training guide and workbooks, and an implementation manual.

None specified

http://www.etr.org/ebi/programs/safer-choices/

It is highly recommended that educators providing Safer Choices receive training and follow-up support to prepare them to effectively use the curriculum with its intended target group.

ETR offers training on both the Safer Choices curriculum and overall program implementation through its professional development and technical assistance services:
                        - Three-day Training of Educators (TOE)—the learning process includes pre-work, skill-based instruction and post-training follow-up support.
                        - Four-day Training of Trainers (TOT) — available for seasoned trainers who have experience in delivering the intervention, and includes training on all of the Safer Choices program components. Completion entitles participants to use ETR’s research-based training designs to conduct TOEs for their organization or designated affiliate group. TOT attendees who have completed the four-day TOT are eligible to attend a condensed TOT course on additional EBIs.

ETR can provide in-person and web- or phone-based technical assistance before, during and after program implementation. TA supports quality assurance and problem-solving of implementation and adaptation issues. ETR also provides evaluation services.

ETR also provides evaluation support for EBI implementation. Services address process and outcome evaluation and include assistance with evaluation planning, instrument design and development, implementation fidelity, data management and analysis, performance measurement, continuous quality improvement (CQI) protocols, and effective tools and strategies for reporting results.

In-depth adaptation guidelines and tools are available through ETR Associates at the following link: http://www.etr.org/ebi/programs/safer-choices/.

Examples of allowable adaptations include tailoring role plays to be more relevant to the population, updating statistics with more current information, and allowing students to complete homework activities with another adult if they are unable to talk with a parent or guardian.

### 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.*