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Love Notes 4.0

Topic Areas
Scientific Rating
Child Welfare Relevance
Teen Pregnancy Services
3  — Promising Research Evidence
Low

About This Program

Target Population: Adolescents, young adults, and young parents (ages 14-24)

For children/adolescents ages: 14 – 24

Program Overview

Love Notes 4.0 builds assets and appeals to young people’s aspirations. It offers young people new conceptual frameworks to help them make informed decisions instead of sliding into unplanned choices that can negatively impact their lives.

Its theory of change hypothesizes that interventions must build young people’s skills for cultivating healthy relationships, selves, and sexual behaviors: planning and pacing relationships and sex, self-efficacy and resilience around relationships, proven communication skills, and understanding the benefits of deciding when it comes to family formation.

In 13 engaging lessons, participants use a strengths-based approach to discover, often for the first time, how to make wise choices about partners, sex, relationships, pregnancy, and more.

Program Goals

The goals of Love Notes 4.0 are:

  • Develop a personal vision and goals for one’s future.
  • Reflect on personal values, expectations, and the influence of family background to inform deliberate and confident decision-making.
  • Understand how to form and maintain healthy relationships as well as recognize and respond to unhealthy ones.
  • Build self-awareness and decision-making skills.
  • Identify and connect with trusted adults or support systems to promote safety and well-being.
  • Recognize the influence of technology in relationships and discuss tips for safely navigating digital interactions.
  • Develop and practice effective communication and conflict resolution skills.
  • Explore intimacy in relationships and develop strategies for sexual decision-making based on one’s values and boundaries.
  • Consider the impact of unplanned pregnancy and the benefits of preventing pregnancy until achieving certain milestones such as education, employment, and a committed relationship (like a marriage).
  • Create a plan for achieving their goals using the knowledge and skills gained from the program.

Logic Model

View the Logic Model for Love Notes 4.0.

Essential Components

The essential components of Love Notes 4.0 include:

  • Core messages:
    • Knowing yourself
    • Forming & maintaining healthy relationships
    • Your love life is not neutral
    • Red flags – expect respect
    • Effective communication and conflict management skills
    • Decide, don't slide – Making a plan for pacing and timing physical intimacy
    • Unplanned pregnancy and relationship turbulence "through the eyes of a child"
    • How the order of school, work, commitment, and babies can impact your future
  • Facilitators will:
    • Create and maintain a safe space for youth to engage in lively discussions, activities, and sharing of experiences.
    • Appeal to youth’s aspirations as youth cultivate a personal vision for love, intimacy, and success.
    • Help youth consider important motivations for behavioral change, such as the benefits of planning for one’s future.
    • Empower youth to achieve healthy relationships through both knowledge and practical skills.
    • Provide youth with thoughtful, intentional activities in every lesson designed to encourage them to connect with caring, trusted adults.
  • Delivery method:
    • Conduct group sessions with up to 30 participants per facilitator.
    • Deliver a minimum of 12 hours of instruction using the Love Notes 4.0 curriculum.
    • Incorporate PowerPoint presentations to guide discussions and ensure fidelity to the curriculum.
    • Utilize participant materials, including participant journals (one per participant), Primary Colors Personality Profiles (one per participant), activity cards, and other relevant handouts to enhance self-awareness and personal development.
    • Engage participants through multiple learning modalities including PowerPoint slides, role-playing, music, videos, and hands-on activities

Program Delivery

Child/Adolescent Services

Love Notes 4.0 directly provides services to children/adolescents and addresses the following:

  • Risk of teen pregnancy, faulty relationship beliefs, adolescent relationship abuse/teen dating violence, family and relational instability, unhealthy relationships, poor communication skills
Services Involve Family/Support Structures:

This program involves the family or other support systems in the individual's treatment: From the first lesson, youth are encouraged to identify and connect with trusted adults or support systems in their lives to promote safety and well-being. Each lesson includes a trusted adult-youth connection activity designed around the content of that session as a way for youth to continue practicing skills and foster connections.

Recommended Intensity:

Intensity can range from two, 7-hour sessions to 13 weekly 60-minute sessions (1 lesson per session in program order).

Recommended Duration:

Two days to thirteen weeks

Delivery Settings

This program is typically conducted in a(n):

  • Community Daily Living Setting
  • Foster / Kinship Care
  • Outpatient Clinic
  • Community-based Agency / Organization / Provider
  • Group or Residential Care
  • Justice Setting (Juvenile Detention, Jail, Prison, Courtroom, etc.)
  • Public Child Welfare Agency (Dept. of Social Services, etc.)
  • School Setting (Including: Day Care, Day Treatment Programs, etc.)
  • Shelter (Domestic Violence, Homeless, etc.)
  • Virtual (Online, Smartphone, Zoom, Telephone, Video, etc.)

Homework

Love Notes 4.0 includes a homework component:

While it is not required, there is a component to Love Notes 4.0 where material can, and is encouraged to be, completed outside of session. Additionally, each lesson concludes with an activity to be completed with a trusted adult beyond the session time. This activity involves a conversation with a trusted adult about some component within the day’s lesson(s).

Languages

Love Notes 4.0 has materials available in a language other than English:

Spanish

For information on which materials are available in this language, please check on the program's website or contact the program representative (contact information is listed at the bottom of this page).

Resources Needed to Run Program

The typical resources for implementing the program are:

  • Computer
  • Projector
  • Ability to play audio
  • Internet
  • Art supplies (e.g., markers/colored pencils, Play-Doh, popsicle sticks, pipe cleaners, etc.)
  • Tables and chairs (or desks)
  • Love Notes 4.0 instructor manual
  • Love Notes 4.0 curriculum PowerPoint slides
  • Love Notes student journals (one per participant)
  • Primary Colors Personality Profile (one per participant)

Manuals and Training

Prerequisite/Minimum Provider Qualifications

There are no minimum educational requirements for service providers or supervisors delivering this program. It is recommended that facilitators are comfortable speaking in front of groups, particularly with youth.

Manual Information

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

Program Manual(s)

Manual details:

The manual is available for purchase in both print and digital formats. It can be purchased through The Dibble Institute® website linked above or through the Training Contact below.

Training Information

There is training available for this program.

Training Contact:
Training Type/Location:

Training is available both virtually and in-person (onsite at the trainee’s organization or location of their choosing).

Number of days/hours:

The standard virtual training consists of five consecutive days (Monday through Friday) for three and a half hours each day. In addition, trainees in virtual sessions will be given pre-work and daily assignments to complete outside of session in order to enrich the training time.

The standard in-person training model consists of three full days (approximately 8 hours per day) at an organization’s site or location of their choosing.

If these models do not fit an organization’s needs, customized trainings are available.

Implementation Information

Pre-Implementation Materials

There are no pre-implementation materials to measure organizational or provider readiness for Love Notes 4.0.

Formal Support for Implementation

There is formal support available for implementation of Love Notes 4.0 as listed below:

Formal support is optional and can be provided, depending on needs and availability, via site visits, tele-conferencing, virtual meetings, email, and/or some combination of these methods. Formal support is available to any organization using Love Notes 4.0 and is conducted on an as-needed basis. Organizations that contract for training are eligible for two free hours of technical assistance. This formal support (i.e., technical assistance) can center around program fidelity, managing implementation challenges, recruitment and retention, sustainability, or other topics of interest.

Fidelity Measures

There are fidelity measures for Love Notes 4.0 as listed below:

Self-report checklists are provided as a fidelity monitoring tool with the purchase of the curriculum. No training is required to use the checklist.

Implementation Guides or Manuals

There are no implementation guides or manuals for Love Notes 4.0.

Implementation Cost

There are no studies of the costs of Love Notes 4.0.

Research on How to Implement the Program

Research has been conducted on how to implement Love Notes 4.0 as listed below:

Crapo, J. S., Bradford, K., & Higginbotham, B. (2024). Report on the Quasi-experimental Study of the Love Notes Curriculum. The Dibble Institute. https://dibbleinstitute.org/wp-new/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Report-on-the-quasi-esperimental-study-of-the-love-notes-curriculum.pdf

Relevant Published, Peer-Reviewed Research

Child Welfare Outcome: Child/Family Well-Being

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

Barbee, A. P., Cunningham, M. R., van Zyl, M. A., Antle, B. F., & Langley, C. N. (2016). Impact of two adolescent pregnancy prevention interventions on risky sexual behavior: A three-arm cluster randomized control trial. American Journal of Public Health, 106, S85–S90. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2016.303429

Type of Study: Randomized controlled trial
Number of Participants: 1448

Population:

  • Age — 14–19 years
  • Race/Ethnicity — 89% Non-Hispanic Black, 7% Non-Hispanic White, 4% Hispanic, and 1% Asian
  • Gender — 60% Female
  • Status — Participants were youth at faith-based agencies, community centers, child welfare-serving social service agencies, and resource centers located in low-performing schools in the parts of Louisville with the highest poverty rates and minority youths.

Location/Institution: 23 community-based organizations in Louisville Kentucky

Summary: (To include basic study design, measures, results, and notable limitations)
The purpose of the study was to test the efficacy of Reducing the Risk (RTR) and Love Notes (LN) [now called Love Notes 3.0 Evidence-Based Program Model (EBP)] on reducing risky sexual behavior among youths yet to experience or cause a pregnancy. Participants were randomly assigned to either LN, RTR or the Power of We (POW) control group. Measures utilized include a demographic questionnaire and questionnaire about sexual activity. Results indicate that at 3 and 6 months, compared with the control condition, youths in RTR reported fewer sexual partners and greater use of birth control. At 6 months, LN participants reported greater use of birth control and condoms, fewer sexual partners, and were less likely to have ever had sex compared with the control condition. Limitations include lack of reliable and valid measures, low generalizability due to the ethnic population of participants, and length of follow-up.

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

Barbee, A. P., Cunningham, M. R., Antle, B. F., & Langley, C. N. (2023). Impact of a relationship‐based intervention, Love Notes, on teen pregnancy prevention. Family Relations, 72(5), 2569–2588. https://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12798

Type of Study: Randomized controlled trial
Number of Participants: 1,448

Population:

  • Age — 14–19 years (Mean=15.42 years)
  • Race/Ethnicity — 88% Non-Hispanic Black, 7% Non-Hispanic White, 4% Latin, and 1% Asian
  • Gender — 60% Female
  • Status — Participants were youth at faith-based agencies, community centers, child welfare-serving social service agencies, and resource centers located in low-performing schools in the parts of Louisville with the highest poverty rates and minority youths.

Location/Institution: Twenty-three community-based organizations in Louisville Kentucky

Summary: (To include basic study design, measures, results, and notable limitations)
The study used the same sample as Barbee et al. (2016). The purpose of the study was to test the efficacy of two teen pregnancy prevention (TPP) curricula, Reducing the Risk and Love Notes (LN) [now called Love Notes 3.0 Evidence-Based Program Model (EBP)], compared with a group of adolescents in a control condition, on primary pregnancy prevention among youth at high-risk for teen pregnancy. A secondary purpose was to examine two potential mediators, negative beliefs about teen pregnancy and intentions to follow the sequence of completing education, marrying or establishing a committed relationship, and then having children. Participants were randomly assigned to either LN, RTR or the Power of We (POW) control group. Measures utilized include a demographic questionnaire and a questionnaire regarding pregnancy and negative attitudes about pregnancy. Results indicate that at the 1-year follow-up, youth in LN report significantly fewer pregnancies compared with the control condition. There was no significant difference between Reducing the Risk and the control condition in number of pregnancies. Less favorable attitudes about having a child as a teenager and other attitudes were associated with predicted outcomes. Limitations include lack of reliable and valid measures, and low generalizability due to the ethnic population of participants.

Length of controlled postintervention follow-up: 3 months, 6 months, and 1 year

Additional References

Dibble Institute. (2021). Effectiveness of healthy relationship interventions on teen pregnancy rates [Issue Brief]. https://www.dibbleinstitute.org/wp-new/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Dibble-Love-Notes-Issue-Brief-6.21.21.pdf

Kerpelman, J. (2010). The YouthBuild USA evaluation study of Love Notes....Making relationships work for young adults and young parents. https://dibbleinstitute.org/wp-new/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/YBUSA-Love-Notes-Evaluation-report-2010.pdf

Office of Adolescent Health. (2016). The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio—UT Teen Health (2010–2015). OAH Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program: Spotlighting Success. https://opa.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/2020-07/spotlighting-success-utsa.pdf 

Contact Information

Kay Reed
Title: Executive Director
Agency/Affiliation: The Dibble Institute
Website: dibbleinstitute.org/our-programs/ln-4
Email:
Phone: (510) 812-6238

Date Research Evidence Last Reviewed by CEBC: March 2025

Date Program Content Last Reviewed by Program Staff: September 2025

Date Program Originally Loaded onto CEBC: August 2018