Prime Time: Health Promotion for Multiple Risk Behaviors

Prime Time: Health Promotion for Multiple Risk Behaviors is a five-year intervention research study (2005- 2009) with an overall goal to design, implement and evaluate a multi-component intervention among adolescent girls at high risk for early pregnancy that reduces multiple precursors of teen pregnancy including sexual risk taking, violence involvement, and school disconnection. Prime Time targets 13-17 year old girls (n=250) attending school and community clinics in Minneapolis/St Paul who meet specified risk criteria. Using an experimental design, half of study participants are randomly assigned to the intervention condition; half are assigned to the control condition. Intervention participants will be involved with the Prime Time intervention for an 18-month period, while control participants will continue to receive usual clinic services. Self-report data will be collected (via A-CASI surveys) from all study participants at study baseline and at 6, 12, 18, 24, and 30 months following study enrollment. To address core risk and protective factors related to sexual risk behaviors, violence involvement, and school disconnection, the Prime Time intervention employs an innovative combination of previously-tested approaches including one-on-one case management, peer education (Just In Time) and service learning (It's Our Time) experiences. This multi-component intervention was developed and field-tested in the Prime Time pilot study. Using multi-wave data, we evaluate intervention impacts on participants'sexual risk taking and contraceptive behaviors;school connectedness, school misbehavior and school performance;violence involvement and peer-related aggression. We also test the extent to which intervention effects on outcome behaviors are mediated by hypothesized risk and protective factors targeted for change by the Prime Time intervention. If the intervention demonstrates success in preventing risk behaviors, we will actively engage in dissemination efforts to affect best practices in primary care clinics serving adolescent girls.