Demoiselle 2 Femme, NFP Young Ladies to Women: Holistic Approach With The 3D PRIDE Curriculum (Power, Respect, Intelligence, Desirable Endurance)

Tori R. Tyler, MS, Sherida V. Morrison, MS, Tracey Lewis-Elligan, PhD, Z. Harry Piotrowski, MS.  Demoiselle 2 Femme, NFP Chicago, Illinois
(Year 02 of Project Period)

Introduction

The proposed project, now starting the second year, is an abstinence education demonstration project which serves high school girls (14-18 years of age, with follow-up in college) in three African American high risk target communities (six high schools) in and south of Chicago who self-select to enroll into Demoiselle 2 Femme (D2F).  Intervention is focused on encouraging abstinence until marriage as well as abstaining from alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs (ATOD), high school graduation and admission to college. Approximately 459 students will be served over the four years of high school with 12-15 per high school grade in each of 6 schools. A comprehensive youth development component will educate youth through weekly (40 sessions in 1^st year of participation) or bi-monthly (20 2^nd-4^th year of participation) workshops, as well as provide mentorship, personal and character development, community service, academic assistance, and college visits. Parent Education workshops, and a separate curriculum for fathers, will supplement the teen curriculum. Target objectives include reduction in number  of students who engage in premarital sexual activity, out of wedlock pregnancies, STDs, and ATOD;  increase in high school graduation rate and college enrollment; increase in students who commit to abstain from at risk behaviors; increase in parental involvement and parent support of abstinence in the home; teen refusal skills; and, teen knowledge, attitudes, skills, commitment and behaviors concerning abstinence until marriage.

Methods

A quasi-experimental design is used with two different comparison groups: (1) Year 2 will consist of 3 participating high schools (intervention) and 3 comparable wait-listed high schools (comparison) with Year 3 including all 6 high schools as intervention; and, (2) a second comparison group of teen girls from comparable communities who participate in the national Upward Bound and Gear Up high school programs which have an exclusive academic objective – increase student graduation and transition to college.  Pre-post AFL Core measures and Life Relationship Survey (adapted from community-based abstinence education evaluation measures) administered each year to teens are supplemented with pre-post self-report surveys completed by the parent.  A qualitative component will examine process or lack of change among students and parents using structured interviews and focus groups. In addition the qualitative process evaluation will focus on the activities and outputs to assure high fidelity. Each measure will undergo psychometric analysis to assure reliable and valid scales (e.g., Rasch model). Statistical analysis will include univariate comparisons (e.g., dependent sample statistics such as t-tests and McNemar tests) and multivariate modeling with multiple waves and mixed model and hierarchical linear modeling analysis recognizing group confounders and baseline confounders and differences between groups. IRB approval was secured.

Results

From an administration of pre-post surveys after a four session and a one and ½ day workshop pilot intervention in Year1 the following statistically significant (p < .05) pre-post differences (paired analyses) were observed with 23 teen girls: (1) a greater proportion strongly agreed or agreed with the following: “A teenager who chooses abstinence shows self-respect and self-confidence”; and,  “Abstinence from sexual activity until marriage will help me to accomplish my goals in life”; and a greater proportion disagreed with the following statements “I don’t have enough control over the way my life is going.” and “I can’t do things as well as most other people” (dependent sample t-test, each at p < .05).  Furthermore, while 43% of the teens reported that they would engage in sexual intercourse with their boyfriend before the intervention, only 6% reported similarly after the intervention (p < .05).

Discussion 

Qualitative feedback from focus groups support the above observations even though the sample size is relatively small and a large number of items were analyzed. The administration procedures, coupled with revised protocol will increase the quality of information obtained from students. Self-report measures, in general, continue to have validity issues, though in this study, phrasing the questions in multiple formats and repeatedly will likely yield more accurate representations of teen behavior.

Implications 

The proposed Demoiselle 2 Femme intervention with teen girls will examine a curriculum intended to positively impact on abstinence behaviors, school outcomes and admission to college. The results from the full study will have national implications when compared to such national programs as Upward Bound and Gear Up in inner city high risk communities which are intended to have a positive impact on school outcomes and admission to college, but not on reduction and elimination of multiple risk behaviors which are a specific focus of the Demoiselle 2 Femme intervention.

Contact Information

Z. Harry Piotrowski, MS
Telephone: 708 763 6575   
E-Mail Address: zhp@sprynet.com