Contraceptive Awareness and Reproductive Education

Contraceptive Awareness and Reproductive Education

The long-term objectives of this research are to develop effective treatments to reduce unplanned pregnancy and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) for a highly under-served at-risk youth population.

This trial will evaluate a Motivational Interviewing (MI) intervention designed to improve contraceptive use and decrease STIs for at-risk youth for both those who do and do not want a pregnancy. Those interested in becoming pregnant will be counseled in the risks associated with teen pregnancy and what it means to have a healthy pregnancy and raise a child. The investigators will utilize Title X programs in Rhode Island to provide reproductive health services in the community. The investigators will recruit 250 at risk youth from RI Juvenile Probation Department (JPD), RI group homes and alternative schools, Job Corps of Rhode Island, and Community Mental Health Centers and randomize them to two interventions: two sessions of personalized MI or two sessions of Awareness for Sexual Health (ASH), both delivered individually by trained counselors. MI is based on the principles of the Transtheoretical Model (TTM) and on MI, an empirically supported counseling technique designed to enhance readiness to change targeted behaviors. ASH provides didactic information about contraception, STI prevention and abstinence, and is intended to control for the effects of assessment and attention.

Inclusion Criteria:

• 1) Age 14-21;
• 2) Currently sexually active with males defined as having had coital sex and intending to have coital sex within the next 6 months;
• 3) Willing to comply with protocol, follow-up assessments, and provide at least one locator; and
• 4) Fluent in English.

Exclusion Criteria:

• 1) Inability to give informed consent secondary to organic brain dysfunction, or active psychosis or otherwise not able to participate in the intervention or assessments (deaf, blind, or impaired communication skills that preclude participation in assessment or counseling);
• 2) Girls who are not sexually active; or
• 3) Currently pregnant.