In addition to this case management model, participants are also invited to become trained peer health educators, learning to teach their peers about health. The teen educators are subsequently paid for the teaching contacts they make with others. The young women are in the intervention for one year and followed for one year thereafter. For comparative measures, a control group is also followed for two years. The PRC embraces a youth development approach in all its work.
Youth development emphasizes the development of competencies and capacities in young people.
Prime Time has the potential to serve as a national model for teen pregnancy prevention, especially for youth at highest risk, and to significantly change the way our health care system cares for young people. Prime Time will continue recruiting new participants over the next year. Study findings are expected in 2003. The University of Minnesota is an equal opportunity educator and employeer.