Trial of the Effect of "16 and Pregnant" on Teen Girls' Attitudes About Pregnancy
Condition: Pregnancy in Adolescence; Teenage Pregnancy and Teen Parenting
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      The purpose of this study is to determine whether watching the MTV (Music Television)
      television show "16 and Pregnant" could affect teen girls' attitudes about teen pregnancy,
      teen parenting, and pregnancy prevention. The investigators will recruit teen girls, ages
      15-18, who will be randomized to the intervention group (who will be asked watch 4 episodes
      of the show over a 4 week period) or the control group (who will not be intentionally exposed
      to watching the show, and will not be told which show the intervention group is watching).
      The investigators will evaluate, through survey, their attitudes about teen pregnancy and
      teen parenting before and after the intervention period, and compare the two groups at the
      conclusion of the study.

      The investigators' hypothesis is that the teens that are exposed to watching the show will
      have less favorable attitudes towards teen pregnancy and teen parenting than those teens who
      are not exposed to watching the show.
    

Detailed description: 
      The objective of this study is to evaluate whether a television show, 16 and Pregnant, can be
      used as entertainment-education - specifically if it changes teens' attitudes about teen
      pregnancy and teen parenting. The primary outcome measure will be the change in attitudes
      about teen pregnancy and teen parenting after the intervention period.

      Specific Aim: To determine the effect that watching the TV (television) show 16 and Pregnant
      has on teen girls' attitudes about teen pregnancy and teen parenting. Attitudes will be
      measured using the Thoughts on Teen Parenting Survey, which is a 44-item survey with 5-point
      Likert scale responses. Scores for the entire survey as well as sub-scale scores will be
      calculated both pre- and post-intervention.

      Hypothesis: Teens who are exposed to themes of unintended teen pregnancy will have less
      favorable attitudes towards teen pregnancy and teen parenting when compared with similar
      teens not exposed to those themes.

      In order to determine if the TV show 16 and Pregnant has any effect on teen girls' attitudes
      around teen pregnancy and parenting, the investigators plan to conduct a randomized
      controlled trial of an intervention consisting of watching the television program once a week
      for 4 weeks. Participants will be randomized to either the intervention arm, which will watch
      an approximately 45-minute commercial-free episode of the show 16 and Pregnant once a week
      for 4 weeks, or the control arm, which will not be intentionally exposed to the show. Each
      group will complete the same pre- and post-test survey to allow for comparisons between the
      groups.

      All participants will be female teens between the ages of 15 and 18. Teens will be excluded
      if their parents do not permit them to participate, or if they do not assent to participate.
      They will also be excluded if they report having watched more than one episode (or more than
      60 minutes) of 16 and Pregnant previously. The investigators plan to recruit approximately
      215 teens to get a sample of 150 participants.

      The survey instrument will be based on two previously developed surveys. The Thoughts on Teen
      Parenting Survey (TTPS) will be used to measure attitudes towards teen pregnancy and teen
      parenting. This is a previously validated 44-item survey designed to be used with adolescents
      ages 14-19 to evaluate teens' perceptions on teen pregnancy and teen parenting. A few
      additional questions, though not previously validated, will be used to evaluate teens'
      attitudes towards contraception, pregnancy options other than parenting (adoption or
      abortion), and sexual activity. These will be used to describe the population of teens in the
      study. The knowledge portion of the survey will be based on questions from the The National
      Survey of Reproductive and Contraceptive Knowledge (NSRCK), developed by The Guttmacher
      Institute and The National Campaign to Prevent Teen & Unplanned Pregnancy. This survey was
      originally designed to measure contraceptive knowledge among 18-29 year olds. The reading
      level of many of the questions will be changed to accommodate a younger audience, but the
      content of the questions will remain the same. Again, this section of the survey will mainly
      be used to describe the group of teens in the study in terms of their level of contraceptive
      and reproductive health knowledge.

      All surveys will be internet-based and will be administered by Knowledge Networks, a company
      that specializes in online survey research. Demographic information will be obtained via
      self-disclosure on the survey, as well as from the demographic information that is collected
      by Knowledge Networks when the participant agrees to join the KnowledgePanel®. Information
      about other sources of reproductive health knowledge will be assessed as well, including
      prior exposure to the show 16 and Pregnant.

      Participants in the intervention group will complete a brief survey after watching each
      episode, as a measure to ensure that they actually watched the episode.
    

Intervention name(s): 16 and Pregnant
Intervention type(s): Behavioral
Intervention description(s): Participants in this arm will be asked to watch an approximately 45-minute commercial-free episode of the MTV television show "16 and Pregnant" once a week for 4 weeks. They will receive an email that contains a link to watch an episode of the show on the internet. The site where the videos are hosted is password protected and they are given the password in the same email. They can watch the video at any time, and can come back to it later if they need to stop watching it. The participants are asked to all watch the same episode each week. Four episodes were selected for the intervention from the first three seasons of the show.
Intervention model: Single Group Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Other
Keywords: Pregnancy in Adolescence; Contraception