Evaluation of Becoming a Responsible Teen (BART)
Condition: Teen Pregnancy Prevention
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      The purpose of the study is to determine the impact of the offer to participate in Becoming a
      Responsible Teen (BART) (treatment) relative to the offer to participate in Healthy Living
      (control) on two self-reported sexual behaviors (condom use and frequency of sex) six months
      after the end of treatment.
    

Detailed description: 
      The Policy & Research Group (PRG) will be evaluating the Becoming a Responsible Teen (BART)
      curriculum. As part of the program, participants will be randomly assigned to receive either
      BART (treatment) or the Healthy Living (control) curriculum. BART is an eight-session
      group-level HIV/AIDS risk reduction curriculum based on Social Learning Theory and
      Self-efficacy Theory. The Healthy Living curriculum consists of the first session of BART
      (HIV information-only) followed by seven sessions of nutrition and physical activity
      education. The study is an individual randomized controlled trial in which eligible,
      consenting participants were randomly assigned by evaluators to intervention or control
      conditions. Random assignment occurred after evaluation consent/assent had been obtained and
      before the provision of any programming or collection of baseline data. There was no
      difference in the consent process for the intervention or control groups. Most study
      participants were randomized at approximately the same time-the first day of programming.
      Others were randomized when they showed up to a study site for the first time sometime during
      the first or second week of programming. Participant assignment was blocked by employment
      site, work shift, and gender. Baseline, outcome, and covariate data were collected via
      self-administered questionnaires that were scheduled at the following times: baseline (before
      the first program session attended); immediate post-program follow-up; 6-month post-program
      follow-up; and 12-month post-program follow-up. The study took place in New Orleans,
      Louisiana, as part of an educational component of a summer employment program funded by the
      city government. The government program contracts with multiple local community-based
      organizations (CBOs) to offer summer camps, internships, job training, and employment
      opportunities for youth ages 14 to 21 who reside in Orleans Parish. Each summer, these CBOs
      implemented the BART and Healthy Living programs as a component of their summer programming.
      Youth were recruited and enrolled during three consecutive summers (2012 to 2014), with
      programming ending each summer by late July. Six-month follow-up data collections occurred
      February to July of each year. Twelve-month follow-up data collections were generally offered
      from July to January of each year.
    

Intervention name(s): BART; Healthy Living
Intervention type(s): Behavioral; Behavioral
Intervention description(s): BART is an out of school educational program that intends to provide cognitive behavioral training to reduce HIV risk. It is intended to be implemented in 8 sessions lasting 1.5-2 hours. Sessions are to be implemented by a male and female health educator in small gender specific groups of 5-15 participants.; Healthy Living is a knowledge-based intervention that intends to provide one HIV information-only session and seven sessions on nutrition, healthy eating, body image, and exercise. It is intended to be implemented in 8 sessions lasting 1.5-2 hours. Sessions are to be implemented by a male and female health educator in small gender specific groups of 5-15 participants.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Prevention