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Talking Parents, Healthy Teens

An Evidence-Based Practice

Description

Talking Parents, Healthy Teens teaches parents skills for healthy communication with their adolescent children. The program was developed by researchers at UCLA in order to help parents promote healthy sexual development and reduce risky sexual behaviors in their children by improving their parents' communication skills. The work-site based program is delivered to groups of parents during their lunch hour. The program consists of eight weekly one-hour sessions led by a trained facilitator. The evidence-based curriculum teaches parents specific skills including active listening and uses teaching moments in everyday life as practice scenarios. In addition, parents are provided with facts, options, and advice on an array of topics relating to sexuality and relationships, as well as how and when to talk to children. The lessons are interactive and enhanced with role playing, videotaped interactions, games, and discussions.

Goal / Mission

The goal of Talking Parents, Healthy Teens is to help parents improve their communication skills with their adolescent children, promote healthy adolescent sexual development, and reduce risky adolescent sexual behaviors.

Results / Accomplishments

A randomized controlled trial of the program demonstrated effectiveness of the intervention on multiple different outcome measures. Parents in the intervention group reported discussing more new topics with their adolescents than control parents (p<0.001). This difference persisted at the three and nine month follow-ups. Twenty nine percent of adolescents in the intervention group said that their parents had reviewed how to use a condom, compared with 5% in the control group. In addition, compared with control group, parents and adolescents in the intervention group reported greater ability to communicate with each other about sex.

About this Promising Practice

Organization(s)
UCLA/RAND Center for Adolescent Health Promotion
Primary Contact
Mark A. Schuster
Children’s Hospital Boston
300 Longwood Ave.
Boston, MA 02115
mark.schuster@childrens.harvard.edu
Topics
Health / Family Planning
Health / Adolescent Health
Community / Social Environment
Organization(s)
UCLA/RAND Center for Adolescent Health Promotion
Source
BMJ Journals
Date of publication
2007
Location
California
For more details
http://www.bmj.com/content/337/bmj.39609.657581.25
Target Audience
Teens

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An Evidence-Based Practice meets the following HCI criteria:

  1. The program description includes at a minimum: the sponsoring organization, program goals, program implementation steps, and outcomes that have demonstrated program success in achieving the program goal in one or more localities.
  2. The results from an evaluation of the program include quantitative measures showing improvement in the outcome(s) of interest after the implementation of the program (i.e. increase in smoking cessation, not just the delivery of a smoking cessation program). The outcome measure(s) is/are compared at relevant time periods before and after the intervention or program implementation. Alternatively, the evaluation study compares the outcome(s) between an intervention group and an appropriate control group.
  3. The study is of peer-review quality and presents numbers in a scientific manner; measurements of precision and reliability are included (e.g. confidence intervals, standard errors), results from statistical tests show a significant difference or change in the outcome measure(s), and relevant point estimates and p-values are presented. Note: if the results from an evaluation of a program are presented in a scientific manner and the outcome measure is improved compared to the baseline measurement or the control group but the difference is not statistically significant, the practice is classified as effective and not evidence-based.
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