Girl2Girl: Harnessing Text Messaging to Reduce Teenage Pregnancy Among LGB Girls
Condition: Teenage Pregnancy
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      The purpose of this study is to finalize and rigorously evaluate Girl2Girl, a novel text
      messaging-based teenage pregnancy prevention (TPP) program designed specifically for LGB
      women ages 14-18 years, nation-wide. The guiding theoretical model is the
      Information-Motivation-Behavioral Skills (IMB) Model, which has been used extensively and is
      associated with increases in TPP behavior.
    

Detailed description: 
      An estimated one in four teen women will become pregnant by the time she is 20 years of age.
      That said, significant disparity in rates exist for lesbian, gay, bisexual and other sexual
      minority women (LGB) versus non-LGB teen women: Research suggests that lesbian and bisexual
      teen women are between two and four times more likely to report having been pregnant than
      teen women who identified as exclusively heterosexual. Despite this compelling evidence that
      lesbian and bisexual adolescent women are at risk for teen pregnancy, programs tailored to
      the unique needs of adolescent LGB women are nonexistent. Evidence-based teen pregnancy
      prevention (TPP) programs targeting LGB teen women are urgently needed.

      The Girl2Girl intervention text messaging-based TPP program designed specifically for LGB
      women ages 14-18 years, nation-wide. The investigators will test the intervention in a
      randomized control trial (RCT) of 840 LGB teenage women randomly assigned to either the
      intervention (n = 420) or control (n = 420) arms. Our primary efficacy outcome measures,
      measured at 12-months post-intervention, will be: (a) abstinence from penile-vaginal sex; (b)
      condom use during penile-vaginal sex, (c) use of other birth control methods during
      penile-vaginal sex, and (d) pregnancy.

      If effective, Girl2Girl has promise to be quickly and cost-effectively implemented to scale
      to help to curb the spread of teenage pregnancy among women who identify as LGB.
    

Intervention name(s): Girl2Girl
Intervention type(s): Behavioral
Intervention description(s): Girl2Girl is a text messaging-based teenage pregnancy prevention program specifically for 14-18 year old LGB adolescent females. Content is guided by the Information-Motivation-Behavioral Skills (IMB) model and focuses on: HIV information, motivations to engage in HIV preventive behavior, communication skills, behavioral skills (e.g., using a condom; HIV testing); and healthy/unhealthy relationships. Behavioral skills content is reinforced using brief online videos. The intervention is 7 weeks long. A "booster" is delivered 12-weeks post-intervention end and reviews the topics covered in the intervention. Girl2Girl content is tailored based upon sexual experience (i.e., whether one is abstinent or sexually active) and whether one is same-sex or dually attracted.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Single (Participant)
Primary purpose: Prevention
Keywords: Teenage Pregnancy Prevention; LGB Girls; Text-Messaging; Information-Motivation-Behavioral Skills(IMB)Model