Evaluation of the Impact of Linking Families and Teens (LiFT) Curriculum

LiFT is a two-module curriculum workshop for youth and their parenting adults. Topics for youth include communication skills, condom use, and skill building to access sexual healthcare resources. For parenting adults, topics include building a climate of trust and open communication with youth about sexual health.

Trained and certified facilitators delivered each 2.5 hour module. Sites could choose to deliver the modules in one or two sessions. Youth and parents participated in simultaneous but separate programming in community locations such as schools or health care settings. Youth and parenting adults also received participant guides that encouraged communication between them. Facilitators encouraged youth and parenting adults to opt-in to receive weekly texts that offer additional resources and suggestions for fun ways families can communicate; these continued for 12 weeks after the workshop. Parenting adults received a phone call from the facilitator 3 to 5 weeks after the workshop to reinforce the skills learned during the program.

Community partners (schools, health care settings, or other community organizations) assisted with recruiting interested dyads of youth and parenting adults from their client base and the community. Each site held a kickoff event or individual meeting or meetings describing the LiFT program in detail.

Over the course of three years, the program was offered 57 times across five cohorts. The program took place in rural communities across nine states; Alaska, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Mississippi, New York, Oregon, Utah, and Washington. The study enrolled 886 dyads for participation.

The LiFT study was a cluster randomized controlled trial. Dyads of youth and their parenting adults were randomly assigned to participate in the intervention or comparison group. Siblings were randomly assigned together within the same condition. At kick-off events or through individual meetings, program staff obtained parental consent and student assent and administered baseline surveys. After receiving consent, assent, and baseline surveys, the research team conducted the random assignment of dyads and informed the site of the results. Program implementation occurred within two weeks of recruitment and baseline data collection.

All study participants were surveyed at two points in time: (1) at the kickoff event or individual meetings before random assignment (baseline) and (2) immediately post-program (3 months from baseline). In addition, youth were surveyed 1 year following baseline. LiFT facilitators administered the baseline surveys, whereas the evaluation team administered the immediate post-program and 9-month post-program follow-up surveys. Surveys were in-person pencil-and-paper surveys for all survey points. Dyads who did not attend in-person follow-up data collection events were contacted and offered multiple options for completing the surveys (for example, by web, over the phone, or via mail).

For the implementation evaluation, the evaluation team collected data on attendance, fidelity, and quality. At the end of each module, LiFT facilitators completed an attendance log, a referral log, and a fidelity form. On the fidelity form, they reported whether they covered all of the topics and activities scheduled for that lesson and any deviations from the planned lesson. Trained observers observed more than 10 percent of all sessions to monitor fidelity and quality. The text messaging service recorded the number of text messages sent and received.

Inclusion criteria

• Youth must be 13 to 19 years old
• Youth must live in a rural community that has teen pregnancy rates higher than the national average.
• Youth must be accompanied by a parenting adult who agrees to participate in the program. The parenting adult does not need to be the youth's biological parent.

Exclusion criteria

• Lack of parental consent
• Lack of youth assent