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Title: Project Redirection: evaluation of a comprehensive program for disadvantaged teenage mothers.
Author: Polit DF, Kahn JR.
Journal: Fam Plann Perspect; 1985; 17(4):150-5. PubMed ID: 3842804.
Abstract:
An evaluation of Project Redirection, a two-year demonstration program designed to help pregnant teenagers and teenage mothers, shows that teenagers from a comparison group, who were not enrolled in the demonstration program, were significantly more likely than project participants to experience a repeat pregnancy after one year, but that after two years the difference was small and nonsignificant. Likewise, at 12 months into the program, the project participants proved more likely to be using contraceptives, but by 24 months the comparison group had caught up. After one year of participation, the project teenagers were more likely than the others either to be in school or to have graduated (56 and 49 percent, respectively). However, this differential also disappeared by 24 months. Nonetheless, even at that point, project teenagers who had dropped out prior to joining the program and those who had had a repeat pregnancy were more likely to be in school or to have completed school than were similar comparison teens. Project teenagers also were somewhat more likely to have held a job during the two-year period than were teenagers not enrolled in the program. All in all, the evaluation demonstrated that teenagers who participated in the project and remained in it for more than a year had consistently better outcomes in education, employment and repeat pregnancy than any other group had. Comparison teenagers who had never participated in any special program for pregnant teenagers, on the other hand, demonstrated consistently poorer outcomes than any other group. An evaluation of Project Redirection, a 2-year demonstration program designed to help economically disadvantaged teenage mothers, shows short-term gains but few long-term results in effecting significant changes' in repeat pregnancies, use of contraceptives and schooling. Conducted from mid-1980 to 1983 under the sponsorship of the Ford Foundation and US Department of Labor, Project Redirection coordinated a wide range of services by developing relationships with other service providers in 4 communities--Boston, Mass., New York City (Harlem), Phoenix, Ariz., and Riverside, Calif. Based on a series of interviews with some 675 teenagers (305 from the experimental group and 370 from a comparison group), it was found that, 12 months after the program began, a significantly higher proportion of the comparison than of the project teenagers had a repeat pregnancy (22% and 14%, respectively). However, 12 months later, or a year after the average teenager had completed the program, 49% of the comparison group and 45% of the project teenagers had experienced repeat pregnancies. Similarly, 45% of the comparison group and 54% of the project participants had used some form of contraceptive at last intercourse when the teenagers were interviewed after 12 months. But a year later, the use of a contraceptive at the last intercourse was the same for both groups--54%. In addition, while project teenagers were more likely than the comparison group to have been enrolled in school (87% and 71%, respectively) after 2 years, the difference between the groups was similar to the difference that existed after 1 year. The study indicates the need to extend family planning program services for teenagers for a longer period. This can be accomplished by removing mandatory exit criteria based on the length of time spent in the program, the use of incentives to reward teenagers for longevity or the attainment of major goals, and as an alternative to continuous enrollment, offering teenagers the option of returning periodically for short-term targeted services perhaps every 6 months, or at times of crisis.

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