It stresses abstinence but incorporates contraceptive information and decision-making skills. An 18-month evaluation showed that the mean difference in contraceptive use between program participants and youth in the control group was approximately 17 percentage points. By the end of the eighth grade, youth who were not given the program were as much as five times more likely to have initiated sex than youth who were given the program. This is a school-based approach to pregnancy prevention for tenth graders that emphasizes avoidance of unprotected sex either through abstinence or contraceptive use for those who choose to be sexually active. Discussion of sexuality, reproduction and contraception is made relevant to each individual, while role playing allows participants to model and practice healthy behaviors.
Participants discuss social pressures, negotiation skills, and pregnancy prevention.
Students are asked to talk with their parents about abstinence and birth control, and are required to go to stores and clinics to obtain information on contraceptives. 8 Lower risk was defined as youth who lived with both parents, whose mother finished high school, who received grades mostly of C or better, and who drank alcohol infrequently and in limited quantities. These programs are most effective when they offer contraceptive counseling, supplies and follow-up care for proper and consistent use. This school and community-based pregnancy prevention program in Denmark, South Carolina, provided access to contraception. A school nurse provided counseling, gave condoms to adolescent men and took adolescent women to the county health department family planning clinic for contraceptive services and supplies.