Can "16 & Pregnant" Change Teens' Attitudes About Teen Pregnancy? A Randomized Controlled Trial

The objective of this study is to evaluate whether a television show, 16 and Pregnant, can be used as entertainment-education - specifically if it changes teens' attitudes about teen pregnancy and teen parenting. The primary outcome measure will be the change in attitudes about teen pregnancy and teen parenting after the intervention period. Specific Aim: To determine the effect that watching the TV (television) show 16 and Pregnant has on teen girls' attitudes about teen pregnancy and teen parenting. Attitudes will be measured using the Thoughts on Teen Parenting Survey, which is a 44-item survey with 5-point Likert scale responses. Scores for the entire survey as well as sub-scale scores will be calculated both pre- and post-intervention. Hypothesis: Teens who are exposed to themes of unintended teen pregnancy will have less favorable attitudes towards teen pregnancy and teen parenting when compared with similar teens not exposed to those themes. In order to determine if the TV show 16 and Pregnant has any effect on teen girls' attitudes around teen pregnancy and parenting, the investigators plan to conduct a randomized controlled trial of an intervention consisting of watching the television program once a week for 4 weeks. Participants will be randomized to either the intervention arm, which will watch an approximately 45-minute commercial-free episode of the show 16 and Pregnant once a week for 4 weeks, or the control arm, which will not be intentionally exposed to the show. Each group will complete the same pre- and post-test survey to allow for comparisons between the groups. All participants will be female teens between the ages of 15 and 18. Teens will be excluded if their parents do not permit them to participate, or if they do not assent to participate. They will also be excluded if they report having watched more than one episode (or more than 60 minutes) of 16 and Pregnant previously. The investigators plan to recruit approximately 215 teens to get a sample of 150 participants. The survey instrument will be based on two previously developed surveys. The Thoughts on Teen Parenting Survey (TTPS) will be used to measure attitudes towards teen pregnancy and teen parenting. This is a previously validated 44-item survey designed to be used with adolescents ages 14-19 to evaluate teens' perceptions on teen pregnancy and teen parenting. A few additional questions, though not previously validated, will be used to evaluate teens' attitudes towards contraception, pregnancy options other than parenting (adoption or abortion), and sexual activity. These will be used to describe the population of teens in the study. The knowledge portion of the survey will be based on questions from the The National Survey of Reproductive and Contraceptive Knowledge (NSRCK), developed by The Guttmacher Institute and The National Campaign to Prevent Teen & Unplanned Pregnancy. This survey was originally designed to measure contraceptive knowledge among 18-29 year olds. The reading level of many of the questions will be changed to accommodate a younger audience, but the content of the questions will remain the same. Again, this section of the survey will mainly be used to describe the group of teens in the study in terms of their level of contraceptive and reproductive health knowledge. All surveys will be internet-based and will be administered by Knowledge Networks, a company that specializes in online survey research. Demographic information will be obtained via self-disclosure on the survey, as well as from the demographic information that is collected by Knowledge Networks when the participant agrees to join the KnowledgePanel®. Information about other sources of reproductive health knowledge will be assessed as well, including prior exposure to the show 16 and Pregnant. Participants in the intervention group will complete a brief survey after watching each episode, as a measure to ensure that they actually watched the episode.