THE McMASTER TEEN PROGRAM

OVERVIEW

The McMaster Teen Program is a primary prevention program for students in grades 7 and 8 based on a cognitive-behavioral model for preventing unwanted adolescent pregnancy.  The program seeks to provide information and teach decision-making and problem-solving skills, but does not cover contraception.  A large-scale evaluation of the program’s effectiveness found that the program had no positive impact on whether students practiced abstinence, used contraception, or became pregnant.  The program actually had a negative impact on boys; boys in schools that taught the McMaster curriculum were actually significantly more likely to start having sex than were boys in control schools.  

DESCRIPTION OF PROGRAM

Target population: 7^th and 8^th grade students

The McMaster curriculum consists of ten hour-long sessions.  These sessions deal with adolescent development, peer pressure, gender roles, responsibility in development, physical intimacy, and teen pregnancy.  Sessions also address problem-solving and decision-making as they pertain to sexual choices and activities.  Contraceptive methods and their use are not discussed.  Program activities include group discussion, role play, film presentations, and question and answer periods. 

EVALUATION(S) OF PROGRAM

Evaluated population: 21 schools from Hamilton, Ontario, Canada were selected to take part in this study.  3290 of the 7^th and 8^th grade students from these schools received parental consent to participate.  Approximately 25% of these students came from homes where English was not the first language.

Approach: 11 schools were randomly assigned to the treatment condition.  7^th and 8^th grade students in these schools took part in the McMaster Teen Program.  Students were broken into co-educational groups of six to eight and received the curriculum over a six to eight week period.  Groups were led by tutors who had received 40 hours of training in the curriculum. 

The remaining 10 schools served as a control group.  7^th and 8^th grade students in these schools received the conventional sex education program proscribed by the board of education.  This conventional program was didactic in nature and dealt with anatomy and the changes that accompany puberty.

All students completed surveys on their past sexual behavior before the intervention began.  Students were followed for four to five years and completed four annual follow-up surveys during this time.  Over 90% of the students completed the first and second follow-up surveys and between 80% and 88% of students completed the third and fourth follow-up surveys.

Results: The McMaster Teen Program failed to impact birth control use among sexually active students.  Students in treatment schools were no more likely to use birth control than were students in control schools.  Further, the program failed to positively impact whether students practiced abstinence.  While girls in treatment schools were just as likely to become sexually active as were girls in control schools, boys in treatment schools were actually significantly more likely to start having sex than were boys in control schools.  (It bears noting that boys in the experimental group were more likely to have had sex at baseline as well.)  Girls in treatment schools were also just as likely to become pregnant as were girls in control schools.

SOURCES FOR MORE INFORMATION

Program materials are not available for purchase.

References:

Thomas, B.H. et al. (1992).  Small Group Sex Education at School: The McMaster Teen Program.  In Miller, B.C. et al. (Eds.), Preventing Adolescent Pregnancy: Model Programs and Evaluations (pp. 28-52).  Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.

Program categorized in this guide according to the following:

Evaluated participant ages: 11-16

Program age ranges in the guide: Adolescence

Program components: School-Based

Measured outcomes: Reproductive Health

Program information last updated on 4/23/07.

© Child Trends 2003