OVERVIEW

Healthy for Life is a middle school-based program designed to change health risk behaviors in five areas, including alcohol, tobacco and marijuana use, nutrition, and sexual behaviors. The program is designed to have peer leadership, family, and community components as well. An experimental evaluation shows that the program did not have an impact on condom use, and appeared to negatively impact sexual activity; participants were more likely to have ever had sex by 9th and 10th grades than their peers who were not in the program.

DESCRIPTION OF PROGRAM

Target population: Male and female middle school students.

The Healthy for Life Project (HFL) was an intervention program designed to affect five areas of adolescent health, including sexuality (Moberg & Piper, 1998). The goals of the program were for students to remain abstinent, but if sexually experienced, to use effective contraception to avoid pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. Middle school students were followed from Grade 6 to Grade 10 and were assigned to one of three conditions: the 'age appropriate' condition where the adolescent received the program divided between grades 6-8; the 'intensive' condition where the adolescent received the entire program in the 7th grade; and the control group which received the currently offered programs within their schools. Sexuality issues were focused on in 16 of 54 core lessons, and included lessons on body image, birth control, risks associated with early sexual activity, and understanding and communicating with parents on sexuality and values around sexuality. Furthermore, students practiced refusal skills in response to a situation with pressure to engage in risk-taking behaviors. These lessons were taught by a trained instructor and peer leaders and provided students with the opportunity for active learning that focused on behavioral change. The program was designed to include family and community components, however these were not implemented as planned in the evaluation described below (Moberg & Piper, 1998).

EVALUATION(S) OF PROGRAM

Evaluated population:
2,483 6th-graders at 21 middle schools in Wisconsin. Students were 48% male and 52% female, predominantly white (96%), and most lived with two parents (72%).

Schools were randomly assigned to the intensive HFL condition, the age appropriate HFL condition, or the control group. An experimental evaluation of the program indicates that adolescents in the two versions of HFL were not more likely to use condoms and, contrary to expected findings, were more likely to have ever engaged in sexual intercourse by 9th grade or for ('age appropriate' condition only) 10th grade.

SOURCES FOR MORE INFORMATION

References:

Moberg, D. P., & Piper, D. L. (1998). The Healthy for Life Project: Sexual risk behavior outcomes. AIDS Education and Prevention, 10(2), 128-148.

Piper, D. L., Moberg, D. P., & King, M. J. (2000). The Healthy for Life Project: Behavioral outcomes. The Journal of Primary Prevention, 21(1), 47-73.

Program also discussed in the following Child Trends publication(s):

Manlove, J., Terry-Humen, E., Romano Papillo, A., Franzetta, K., Williams, S., & Ryan, S. (2002). Preventing teenage pregnancy, childbearing, and sexually transmitted diseases: What the research shows (Research brief). Washington , DC : Child Trends.

Manlove, J., Terry-Humen, E., Romano Papillo, A., Franzetta, K., Williams, S., & Ryan, S. (2001). Background for community-level work on positive reproductive health in adolescence: Reviewing the literature on contributing factors. Washington, DC: Child Trends.  

SUMMARY & CATEGORIZATION

Program categorized in this guide according to the following:

Evaluated participant ages: Middle school students / Program age ranges in the Guide: 12-14

Program components: School-based

Measured outcomes: Reproductive health

Program information last updated 12/31/01.

© Child Trends 2003