Opportunities Beyond the Narrative: An Intervention for Justice-Involved Youth

NCT04795999 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: 2020-03-4
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 415
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

WestEd and its partners Urban Strategies, the Los Angeles County Probation Department, Boys Republic, California Family Life Center, and Eggleston Youth Centers Inc. are conducting a quasi-experimental design to evaluate an innovative teen pregnancy prevention program, Project With, for incarcerated and other justice-involved youth in Southern California. Project With is a 12-lesson literary-based curriculum that utilizes group discussions of literary works and films to address personal relationships and sexual health topics. This study involves youth (age 15-19) at high risk for involvement in risky sexual behaviors, including teen pregnancy. The intervention shows potential to promote optimal health and reduce teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among incarcerated and other justice-involved youth, based on a previous formative evaluation of the intervention in 2018-2020. The purpose of this study is to test the curriculum on a population of incarcerated and other justice-involved youth.

Conditions

Study Will Examine the Impact of Project With

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Risky sexual behaviors

  The outcome will be assessed with three items that assess whether youth had sexual intercourse with multiple partners, sexual intercourse without a condom, and sexual intercourse without using any method of birth control in the past three months (Rotz et al., 2016).

  Six months after the baseline

Secondary Outcomes (5)

• Ability to resist temptations and provocations

  Two and six months after the baseline

• Planfulness

  Two and six months after the baseline

• Acceptance of intimate partner violence

  Two and six months after the baseline

• Self-efficacy to avoid risky sexual behavior

  Two and six months after the baseline

• Intentions to engage in risky sexual behavior

  Two and six months after the baseline

Study Arms (2)

Project With program

EXPERIMENTAL

Project With is a 12-lesson literary-based curriculum, delivered by Youth Advocates to youth in juvenile justice facilities and group homes in Southern California either in person or virtually, under COVID-19 contingencies. Program schedule is determined by the facility. The goals of Project With are to promote optimal health and reduce teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

Behavioral: Project With

Treatment as usual

NO INTERVENTION

The counterfactual condition for the study is a business-as-usual condition.

Interventions

Project With BEHAVIORAL

There are 12 lessons in Project With, typically delivered in six weekly sessions, with each session having two one-hour long lessons and a meal with facilitators in between the two lessons. Each lesson includes a discussion of selected literary works, including poetry, short stories, and excerpts from films and other videos. The curriculum is intended to be delivered to groups of 8-12 youth. In ideal program delivery, participants also share a meal with each other and with the Youth Advocate. Shared mealtimes create group cohesion and allow Youth Advocates to connect with participants on a personal level, building trust. At the end of the Project With curriculum, youth will partake in an offsite day excursion to Camp Eaton, a wooded camp outside of Los Angeles. At Camp Eaton, Youth Advocates will lead a Project With session, lunch, bonding activities and games, and an opportunity to engage in an outdoor activity.

Project With program

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 15 Years - 19 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17), Adult (18-64)

You may qualify if:

• Aged 15-19
• Residing in one of the Los Angeles County Probation Department camps or group homes within a partnered network
• Have the cognitive ability to complete the baseline and follow-up surveys in English or Spanish
• Need to be at the facilities for at least 8 weeks to complete the program

You may not qualify if:

• Outside of age criteria
• Not residing in one of the Los Angeles County Probation Department camps or group homes within a partnered network
• Does not have the cognitive ability to complete the baseline and follow-up surveys in English or Spanish
• Not remaining at the facilities for 8 weeks or more
• Youth who participated in a previous evaluation wave as part of the treatment or comparison group cannot participate in the evaluation a second time (i.e., during a second wave)

Sponsors & Collaborators

• WestEd: lead
• Urban Strategies: collaborator
• Department of Health and Human Services: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

Urban Strategies

Alhambra, California, 91801, United States

Location

Study Officials

• Jonathan Nakamoto, PhD

  WestEd

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: NON RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: SINGLE GROUP
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Senior Research Associate

Model Details: The treatment condition involves participation in a teen pregnancy prevention program, Project With. The comparison condition for the study is treatment as usual.

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: March 9, 2021
• First Posted: March 12, 2021
• Study Start: February 1, 2021
• Primary Completion: December 31, 2023
• Study Completion: July 15, 2024
• Last Updated: July 18, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-07

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

US (1)