Making Proud Choices!

For organizations that serve children ages: 11, 12, 13

Young adolescents

Making Proud Choices! A Safer Sex Approach to STDs, Teen Pregnancy, and HIV Prevention is an eight-module curriculum that is designed to provide young adolescents with the knowledge, confidence, and skills necessary to reduce their risk of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), HIV, and pregnancy by abstaining from sex or using condoms if they choose to have sex. It is based on cognitive-behavioral theories, focus groups, and experience working with youth. Making Proud Choices! is an adaptation and extension of the original Be Proud! Be Responsible! curriculum in that it integrates STD, HIV, and pregnancy prevention.

The Making Proud Choices! curriculum is designed to not only increase knowledge and perception of personal vulnerability, but also create positive attitudes towards condom use, teach skills, and build confidence in ability to use condoms.

Loretta Jemmott

• Website: https://www.etr.org/store/product/making-proud-choices-5th-edition-basic-set/
• Email: training@etr.org
• Phone: (215) 898-8287

Publicly available information indicates there is some training available for this program. See contact info.

Manual Information

There is a manual that describes how to deliver this program.

Training Information

There is training available for this program.

“What is included in the Relevant Published, Peer-Reviewed Research section?”

• Jemmott III, J. B., Jemmott, L. S., & Fong, G. T. (1998). Abstinence and safer sex HIV risk-reduction interventions for African American adolescents: A randomized controlled trial. JAMA, 279(19), 1529–1536. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.279.19.1529

  Type of Study: Randomized controlled trial

  Participants: 659

  Sample / Population:

  • Age — 11–13 years (Mean=11.8 years)
  • Race/Ethnicity — 100% African American
  • Gender — 53% Female
  • Status —

    Participants were 6th and 7th grade middle school volunteers.

  Location/Institution: Three middle schools serving low-income African American communities in Philadelphia, PA

  Summary:

  The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effects of abstinence and safer-sex HIV risk-reduction interventions on young inner-city African American adolescents’ HIV sexual risk behaviors when implemented by adult facilitators as compared with peer co-facilitators. Participants were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 interventions: an abstinence intervention, a safer-sex intervention (Making Proud Choices!), or a health promotion intervention that served as the control group. Measures utilized include self-reported sexual behaviors and the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale. Results indicate that Making Proud Choices! participants reported significantly more consistent condom use than did control group participants at 3 months and higher frequency of condom use at all follow-ups. Among adolescents who reported sexual experience at baseline, the Making Proud Choices! group reported less sexual intercourse in the previous 3 months at 6- and 12-month follow-up than did the control and abstinence intervention, and less unprotected intercourse at all follow-ups than did the control group. There were no differences in intervention effects with adult facilitators as compared with peer co-facilitators. Limitations include the reliance on self-reported measures, lack of information on the reliability and validity of measures, and generalizability of findings due to the race/ethnicity of participants.

  Length of controlled postintervention follow-up: 3, 6, and 12 months.

• Cole, R., Neelan, T. S., Langan, A., Keating, B., Walzer, J., Asheer, S., & Zief, S. (2024). The impact of Making Proud Choices! on youth’s sexual health attitudes, knowledge, and behaviors. Journal of Adolescent Health, 74(4), 787–793. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2023.10.031

  Type of Study: Randomized controlled trial

  Participants: 2,810

  Sample / Population:

  • Age — Average=15.6 years
  • Race/Ethnicity — 80% African American, 9% Two or More Races, 9% White, and 4% Hispanic or Latino
  • Gender — 53% Female and 46% Male
  • Status —

    Participants were predominately in 9^th and 10^th grade.

  Location/Institution: Fifteen schools in four cities in the United States (four metropolitan areas: (1) Mobile, Alabama; (2) Detroit, Michigan; (3) Cincinnati, Ohio; and (4) St. Louis, Missouri)

  Summary:

  The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effect of the Making Proud Choices! (MPC) curriculum. Participants were high schools randomly assigned to receive the MPC program or to serve as a standard care comparison group. Measures utilized include adapted versions of items from the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale and study developed measures for the risk and protective factors domain; the study combined survey items into reliable scales to measure knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, and skills and self-efficacy. For the sexual behavior domain, the team used measures of sexual initiation, frequency of sex, risk for sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and risk for pregnancy. Finally, for the MPC health goal domain, the study used binary measures for pregnancy (or impregnating a partner) and STI diagnosis. Results indicate that, among the 10 outcomes that measured sexual behaviors (for example, sexual initiation and sex without a condom) and MPC health goals (that is, pregnancy and STI diagnosis), the study observed one statistically significant impact: the MPC group reported significantly fewer episodes of sex in the past three months relative to the control group. The magnitude of the impact estimates for other behavioral and MPC health goal outcomes was small and nonsignificant, but the direction of most findings suggested a favorable effect of MPC. There were also statistically significant and favorable impacts on nearly all of the risk and protective factors for risky sexual behavior, including knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, and self-efficacy. Limitations include the reliance on self-reported measures, lack of information on the reliability and validity of measures, lack of long-term follow-up data, and the limited power to detect impacts on subgroups defined by sexual initiation status.

  Length of controlled postintervention follow-up: None.

There are currently no references available for Making Proud Choices!.