>Claim: Distorting scientific knowledge on reproductive health issues ? >abstinence-only education >Response: >? Currently, the Federal government funds abstinence-only programs >through the Health Resources >and Services Administration (HRSA) and the Assistant Secretary for Health. >? There are no CDC science-based performance measures for these >programs. The program was >not designed as a scientific study, so even if the original >performance measures had been kept, >very little useful scientific data would have been obtained. >? There is a long-range scientific evaluation of these programs >currently being conducted.
Here's a pretty interesting article on it http://her.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/17/4/471 Its interesting to me because meta-analysis is an area I did (and still do) a lot of work on. Health Education Research, Vol. 17, No. 4, 471-481, August 2002 © 2002 Oxford University Press The effectiveness of school-based sex education programs in the promotion of abstinent behavior: a meta-analysis Mónica Silva Escuela de Administración, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Vicuña Mackenna 4860, Santiago, Chile This review presents the findings from controlled school-based sex education interventions published in the last 15 years in the US. The effects of the interventions in promoting abstinent behavior reported in 12 controlled studies were included in the meta-analysis. The results of the analysis indicated a very small overall effect of the interventions in abstinent behavior. Moderator analysis could only be pursued partially because of limited information in primary research studies. Parental participation in the program, age of the participants, virgin-status of the sample, grade level, percentage of females, scope of the implementation and year of publication of the study were associated with variations in effect sizes for abstinent behavior in univariate tests. However, only parental participation and percentage of females were significant in the weighted least-squares regression analysis. The richness of a meta-analytic approach appears limited by the quality of the primary research. Unfortunately, most of the research does not employ designs to provide conclusive evidence of program effects. Suggestions to address this limitation are provided. Another Meta-Analysis: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0022-2445(199708)59%3A3%3C551%3AEOPPFA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-3#abstract Using meta-analysis, we analyzed 32 outcome studies on the primary prevention of adolescent pregnancy and examined several moderator variables in relationship to the findings. Three outcome variables--sexual activity, contraceptive use, and pregnancy rates or childbirths--were analyzed as three separate and independent meta-analyses. Results indicate that the pregnancy prevention programs that we examined have no effect on the sexual activity of adolescents. We found sufficient evidence to support the efficacy of pregnancy prevention programs for increasing use of contraceptives. A smaller but significant amount of evidence supports program effectiveness in reducing pregnancy rates. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T80-4FR4449-2&_user=10&_coverDate=04%2F30%2F2005&_rdoc=1&_fmt=summary&_orig=browse&_cdi=5072&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_ct=1&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=191a2d109f24bed6f2805602984f8e56 After the promise: The STD consequences of adolescent virginity pledges Hannah Brückner Ph.D., and Peter Bearman Ph.D.b Abstract Purpose To examine the effectiveness of virginity pledges in reducing STD infection rates among young adults (ages 18â24). Methods Data are drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, a nationally representative study of students enrolled in grades 7â12 in 1995. During a follow-up survey in 2001â2002, respondents provided urine samples, which were tested for Human Papilloma Virus, Chlamydia, Gonorrhea, and Trichomoniasis. We report descriptive results for the relationship of pledge status and sexually transmitted disease (STD) rates as well as health behaviors commonly associated with STD infection. Results Pledgers are consistently less likely to be exposed to risk factors across a wide range of indicators, but their STD infection rate does not differ from nonpledgers. Possible explanations are that pledgers are less likely than others to use condoms at sexual debut and to be tested and diagnosed with STDs. Conclusions Adopting virginity pledges as intervention may not be the optimal approach to preventing STD acquisition among young adults. In general most of the available work suggests that abstinence programs don't work or are no where near as effective as ones that teach abstinence and condom use or those that use behaviorally based programs to prevent STD or pregnancies. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Create robust enterprise, web RIAs. Upgrade to ColdFusion 8 and integrate with Adobe Flex http://www.adobe.com/products/coldfusion/flex2/?sdid=RVJP Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:239973 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
