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> Evaluation (1997-2000): National Evaluation
A Profile of the Evaluation of Children's Aid Society Carrera-Model Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program
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Program Description
| Overview | The Children's Aid Society Carrera-Model Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program (CASCM) was implemented in 1984. Launched in one of Children's Aid Society's (CAS) community centers in Harlem, the program practices a holistic approach aiming to empower youth, help them develop a desire for a productive future, and aid young people in improving their sexual literacy and their understanding of the consequences of sexual activity. CAS operates numerous community centers throughout New York City, while the Carrera-model has been implemented at 50 adaptation sites nationally. |
| Start Date | 1984 |
| Scope | national |
| Type | after school, summer/vacation, weekend, comprehensive services |
| Location | urban, suburban, rural |
| Setting | community-based organization |
| Participants | middle school through high school students |
| Number of Sites/Grantees | Twelve sites were included in the evaluation. Overall, CASCM is offered in 21 replication sites nationwide (10 in New York, 11 more nationally). Twenty-nine other sites maintain program variations. |
| Number Served | 589 adolescents participated in the program among the 12 sites included in the evaluation (1997); 2,000 to 2,500 adolescents participate each year |
| Components | There are five main activity components and two main service components to CASCM. The five activity components are:
The program is also characterized by a “parallel family systems” approach where staff treat children as if they were their own. In addition, CASCM: views each young person as pure potential; meets comprehensive interests and needs; keeps long-term contact with teens; includes parents and adults from the community; uses a nonpunitive, gentle, generous, and forgiving approach; and avoids fragmentation by providing services under one roof in the participant's community. |
| Funding Level | CAS' annual operating budget for all of its programs and services is nearly $60 million. The Replication Training Center's annual budget is $2.6 million. The program costs roughly $2.2 million per year for the 10 New York sites (which are also the most expensive sites in which the program operates). |
| Funding Sources | Restricted and unrestricted donations, public and government support, fees for children's services from parents. The New York City funding has come from the Robin Hood Foundation for 12 consecutive years, while funding for the program nationally has come from the Charles Stewart Mott foundation for 12 consecutive years. |
Evaluation
| Overview | The evaluators began with the premise that programs and interventions that might reduce teen pregnancy have yielded only a few promising strategies. Through a three-year random assignment evaluation testing CASCM in 12 sites in seven cities, the evaluators sought to perform a high quality evaluation which might document successful methods of preventing teen pregnancies or births. The evaluation report profiled here looks at 12 sites nationwide and looks at a range of program outcomes. An additional evaluation report (not profiled here, but see the Reports Available section below) uses the same data, but concentrates on the CASCM program in the New York sites and on the program's impacts on pregnancy prevention and heath care access outcomes. |
| Evaluator | Susan Philliber, Jackie Kaye, and Scott Herrling, Philliber Research Associates |
| Evaluations Profiled | The National Evaluation of the Children's Aid Society Carrera-Model Program to Prevent Teen Pregnancy |
| Evaluations Planned | The six New York sites are being followed for a fourth year. Evaluators are currently following their sample through the completion of high school and beyond. |
| Report Availability | Philliber, S., Kaye, J. W., & Herrling, S. (2001, May). The national evaluation of the Children's Aid Society Carrera-Model Program to prevent teen pregnancy. Accord, NY: Philliber Research Associates. [Available at www.childrensaidsociety.org/media/ general/cas-Teen_Pregnancy_Prevention.pdf (Acrobat file).] Philliber, S., Kaye, J. W., Herrling, S., & West, E. (2002). Preventing pregnancy and improving health care access among teenagers: An evaluation of the Children's Aid Society - Carrera Model. Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, 34(5), 244-251. [Available at www.agi-usa.org/pubs/journals/3424402.pdf (Acrobat file).] |
Contacts
| Evaluation | Susan Philliber, Ph.D. Philliber Research Associates 16 Main St. Accord, NY 12404 Tel: 845-626-2126 Fax: 845-626-3206 Email: sphilliber@compuserve.com |
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| Program | Dr. Michael A. Carrera The Children's Aid Society/National Training Center 350 E. 88th St. New York, NY 10128 Tel: 212-949-4800 |
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| Profile Updated | February 7, 2003 | |
Evaluation: The National Evaluation of the Children's Aid Society Carrera-Model Program to Prevent Teen Pregnancy
Evaluation Description
| Evaluation Purpose | To determine whether the CASCM program had any impacts on participants' (1) sexuality and reproductive health, (2) health outcomes, (3) work readiness and computer use, (4) educational success, and (5) delinquency and drug use. |
| Evaluation Design | Experimental: Each of the 12 sites recruited approximately 100 adolescents who were randomly assigned to a program model. Following the collection of baseline data, program participants drew envelopes out of a bag to determine if they would be in the CASCM program or some alternative, mostly programs consisting of the regular youth programming offered by the agency. The total sample consisted of 589 youth participating in the CASCM program and 574 control group youth. By the third-year follow-up, 485 CASCM program youth and 456 control youth remained in the sample. Annual surveys were collected from both groups, as well as annual pretests and posttests of knowledge related to sexuality topics. In addition, the evaluation used attendance and participant follow-up data, CAS office database medical component data, participant contact information data provided by the mental health counselors, and interviews conducted by the research team and program staff. Program and control youth did not differ significantly at intake. In the third-year sample, program teens were more likely to not live with either parent and were less likely to be Latino than control teens. Approximately 41% of control group students eventually participated in some kind of after school program. Thus, results should be interpreted as comparing CASCM participation with what young people can find on their own, rather than comparing CASCM with no intervention at all. |
| Data Collection Methods | Document Review: Program staff provided attendance and participant follow-up data. Interviews/Focus Groups: In-depth interviews were conducted with program staff. Surveys/Questionnaires: Annual surveys were administered to all teens enrolled. These surveys included information on sexual knowledge, sexual behavior, contraceptive use, health-related knowledge and behavior, educational outcomes and opinions, work readiness measures, and delinquency/drug use behavior. Tests/Assessments: PSATs were administered to youth at the New York sites. Also, pretests and posttests were administered each year on knowledge related to sexuality topics. |
| Data Collection Timeframe | Data were collected between 1997 and 2000. |
Findings:
Formative/Process Findings
| Activity Implementation | Programs run five days a week and on Saturdays during the school year. During the summer, youth receive employment assistance and also attend maintenance meetings to reinforce sex education and academic skills. There are also occasional social, recreational, and cultural trips. |
| Recruitment/Participation | Adolescents were eligible to participate if: they were not currently enrolled in an ongoing structured after school program with a regular meeting schedule; they would be 13, 14, or 15 on July 1, 1997 for the New York sites and they would be 13, 14, or 15 on January 1, 1998 for the other sites; and they were not currently pregnant or parenting. Programs recruited via outreach in schools, fliers throughout the neighborhood, mailing lists of the agency's families, or direct recruitment of youth involved in the agency's general recreation activities. About a third of the participants were 13 at the time of enrollment, about the same percentage were 14, and roughly a quarter were 15. About 47% were black (either African-American or Caribbean black), with most of the remainder either Latino or mixed Latino and other ethnicities. Seventeen percent of the youth live in families with no adult working and receive public assistance or Medicaid. Another third live in families with one of these conditions. Half of the teens are from single-parent homes. Over a quarter report being affected by either substance use, incarceration, illness, or domestic violence. One fifth report two or more of these problems in their families. Approximately 25% had sexual intercourse before enrollment. On average, teens attended about 12 hours of programming per month, with the most actively involved participants attending an average of 16 hours per month. Seventy percent of the original program participants were still involved at some level by the end of the third year. |
| Staffing/Training | Each program is staffed by part-time employees who run the various components and by a full-time coordinator and a full-time community organizer. The coordinator handles day-to-day program logistics, maintains continuous contact with young people and their parents, and follows up promptly when young people do not attend. The community organizer is usually a community member selected because of their good rapport with neighborhood residents. |
Summative/Outcome Findings
| Academic | Program youth had significantly higher PSAT scores than did control youth (p<.05). While there were no significant differences in self-reported grades, program youth were more likely to believe that the quality of their schoolwork had improved. Program youth were much more likely (64% vs. 49%, p<.001) to have gone on a college visit than control youth. |
| Prevention | Half of program girls reported choosing not to have sex when pressured, in comparison to 39% of control group girls, although this difference was not statistically significant. Program youth were less likely than controls to have initiated intercourse by the end of the third year, but this difference was only marginally statistically significant (p=.098). There were no significant differences in condom usage alone, among either girls or boys. Program girls were significantly more likely, however, to have used Depo-Provera at last intercourse. Program girls also demonstrated moderately significant (p=.099) higher levels of usage of both condoms and some other “highly effective” method of birth control at last intercourse. Program boys did demonstrate significantly higher levels of knowledge about sexuality and reproductive outcomes, but not significantly different levels of sexual behavior. At the third-year follow-up, program girls had significantly lower pregnancy rates and births than did control group girls. The risk of pregnancy and of having given birth in the program group was less than half of that risk in the control group. Program youth did not significantly differ from controls on most drug use and delinquency measures, although program males were significantly less likely than control males to have initiated marijuana use. Program youth, especially boys, were more likely than controls to have received various desirable health-related services and outcomes than controls. |
| Youth Development | Program youth demonstrated significantly greater knowledge gains in the areas of physiology, contraception, gender differences, sexuality, and pregnancy than did control youth. Program youth were significantly more likely than controls to have opened a bank account, to have had work experience, and to have used word processing, the Internet, and email. |