U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation 

https://tppevidencereview.aspe.hhs.gov

Page 1

Summary of Changes Made to the Teen Pregnancy Prevention 

Evidence Review Protocol 7.0

The Teen Pregnancy Prevention (TPP) Evidence Review (TPPER) is a trusted source on 

scientific evidence about effective programs intended to prevent teen pregnancy, sexually 

transmitted infections, and associated sexual risk behaviors. The TPPER identifies existing 

evaluation research on TPP programs, assesses the quality of this research, and summarizes the 

evidence from studies that meet TPPER standards.

In 2023, the TPPER released an updated protocol, Review Protocol 7.0, to guide the upcoming 

round of reviews. This update includes revisions to approaches used to (1) screen and select 

studies and (2) assess the quality of the research in the studies.

This document briefly summarizes the changes between Review Protocol version 6.0 and 

Review Protocol version 7.0 of the TPPER standards.

What’s new about the approach to screen and select studies in Review Protocol version 7.0 

of the TPPER protocol? 

In addition to focusing on programs that intend to reduce rates of teen pregnancy, STIs, or 

associated sexual risk behaviors through some combination of educational, skill-building and/or 

psychosocial intervention, this review now focuses on the impact of well-defined components or 

combinations of components of programs that are intended to reduce teen pregnancy, STIs, or 

associated sexual risk behaviors. To be eligible for review under version 7.0, a component must 

be (1) a clearly defined practice, procedure, policy, support, or organizational structure, 

potentially with documented steps for implementation with fidelity to facilitate replication; and 

(2) capable of being implemented independently, in conjunction with, or integrated into a TPP 

intervention. Examples of components that could be eligible for review include practices such as 

in-class condom demonstrations and text-messaging as an enhancement to a well-defined TPP 

program. 

What’s new about the approach used to assess the quality of the evidence in version 7.0 of 

the TPPER protocol? 

There were changes and additions to the protocol to better align TPPER’s approach with the 

approaches used by other federally funded evidence reviews: 

• Increased transparency in TPPER review approaches: Previously, the TPPER protocol 

did not provide detailed guidance on several aspects of its review process. Now, the protocol 

documents what the TPPER will look for when a study presents findings from a longitudinal 

data analysis, what the TPPER will look for when a study presents a statistical technique 

used to equate treatment and comparison groups at baseline, and the circumstances in which 

the TPPER considers it acceptable for an analysis to use a difference-in-differences approach 

to statistically adjust for baseline differences. 
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation 

https://tppevidencereview.aspe.hhs.gov

Page 2

What topics might warrant revision in future rounds of TPPER standards changes? 

One change that TPPER anticipates making in 2024 is to adjust the study eligibility criteria to 

ensure that the list of evidence-based programs is based on research that is current and 

contextually relevant. This can be accomplished by lowering the maximum age of eligible 

studies from 20 years to 15 years and using the date of final data collection rather than study 

publication date to determine study age. Programs whose evidence is no longer eligible would be 

moved to the TPPER list of inactive programs. 

In addition, while not addressed in this update, we know that there is considerable interest in 

having TPPER explore the following additional potential revisions in the future: 

• Expand outcomes beyond sexual behaviors and their consequences.

• Assess evidence from system-level evaluations.

• Consider alternatives to focusing on statistical significance of impacts.

• Use a meta-analytic approach to synthesize evidence across studies of an individual program.

• Establish external validity standards.

These topics and others may be examined in future rounds of TPPER revisions. 

Experts consulted to revise TPPER standards: 

• Derekh Cornwell – Senior Statistician, Mathematica

• Karin Coyle – Chief Science Office, ETR

• Sarah Dolfin – Senior Researcher, Mathematica

• Brian Goesling – Principal Researcher, Mathematica

• Diana McCallum – Executive Director, Human Services, Children, Youth and Families Division, 

Mathematica

• Elizabeth Stuart – Chair, Department of Biostatistics, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public 

Health

• Emily Tanner-Smith – Thomson Professor in the Counseling Psychology and Human Services 

Department, University of Oregon’s College of Education

• Elias Walsh – Principal Researcher, Mathematica

HHS Staff: 

• Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE): Sarah Oberlander and Lisa 

Trivits 

• Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH), Office of Population Affairs (OPA): Amy 

Farb and Jaclyn Ruiz 

• Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Family and Youth Services Bureau (FYSB): 

Katie Derrick, Stacy Little, Resa Matthew and Corey Palmer

Mathematica TPPER Staff: 

• Russell Cole – Principal Researcher

• Emily Forrester – Researcher

• Julieta Lugo-Gil – Principal Researcher

• Jean Knab – Principal Researcher