Disseminating Effective Reproductive and Sexual Health Programs

Disseminating Effective Sexual Health Programs in Schools using iCHAMPSS PROJECT SUMMARY

Despite a steady decline in the U.S., teen births continue to be a public health problem, particularly in Texas. Texas has

the ninth-highest teen birth rate and is tied for the highest percentages of repeat teen births nationally. Teen births are especially problematic in South Texas, with rates as high as 64 per 1,000 females 15-19-years. Sexual health evidence- based programs (EBPs) can reduce sexual behaviors that increase the risk of unintended pregnancies and other adverse

sexual health outcomes among youth; however, the implementation of such programs has been limited in schools. In

fact, fewer teens now than in the past receive any sexual health information in Texas schools. Thus, there is a critical need for evidence-based strategies to increase the adoption and implementation of sexual health EBPs in Texas schools. Our goal is to increase the adoption and implementation of sexual health EBPs in South Texas schools; in doing so, we

will reduce risky sexual behaviors among adolescents and, ultimately, teen births. The objective of this 5-year study, which is the next logical step to attain our goal, is to rigorously evaluate iCHAMPSS 2.0 (CHoosing And Maintaining Effective Programs for Sex Education in Schools). We designed this innovative, theory-based implementation strategy to

increase knowledge and skills among school-based and district-wide decision-makers, enabling effective adoption, implementation, and maintenance of sexual health EBPs. Our central hypothesis is that iCHAMPSS 2.0 will increase the implementation of sexual health EBPs in South Texas schools in the implementation phase relative to the control phase.

Our rationale for this project is that determining iCHAMPSS 2.0's effectiveness will help scale-up sexual health EBPs

across Texas schools, giving access to critical sexual health information to thousands of Texas youth annually. This study is founded on our extensive experience working with Texas school districts to implement sexual health EBPs and developing and pilot-testing iCHAMPSS 2.0 to disseminate these EBPs. Our proposed specific aims are to: (1) Conduct a

stepped-wedge randomized controlled trial of iCHAMPSS 2.0 in 15 South Texas school districts to test iCHAMPSS 2.0's impact on the adoption, implementation, reach, and maintenance of sexual health EBPs in schools; (2) Determine iCHAMPSS 2.0's effectiveness in improving determinants of sexual health EBPs use in schools based on constructs within

the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research; and (3) Conduct a process evaluation of iCHAMPSS 2.0 implementation to monitor implementation, reach, dosage, barriers, and facilitators to implementation. This study is

innovative because it seeks to test the effectiveness of the first-of-its-kind web-based implementation strategy designed to overcome barriers to the adoption, implementation, and maintenance of sexual health EBPs, specifically in schools.

The proposed research is significant for its potential to meet the current demand from school districts and decrease the teen birth rate in an area of high need by increasing the scale-up of sexual health EBPs in schools and advancing the knowledge base of implementation research in the education sector.