CE25-026 - An Impact Evaluation of the Monique Burr Foundation Teen Safety Matters Prevention Education Program

About This Grant

Project Summary Abstract Child sexual abuse (CSA) and problematic sexual behavior (PSB) among youth are pervasive public health issues with significant physical, emotional, and societal impacts requiring community-level interventions. This evaluation is a field experiment designed to test the effectiveness of Teen Safety Matters (TSM), a school- based prevention program developed and implemented in multicultural school settings to equip both middle school adults and students with the knowledge and skills to identify and prevent CSA and PSB. This researcher-practitioner partnership will be conducted in a community population (New York City Public Schools) that is not only racially and ethnically diverse, but also serves learners who are predominantly economically disadvantaged (four out of five) among other vulnerabilities that confer disproportionate risk of CSA and PSB. The program evaluation has three specific aims: (1) Conduct a randomized controlled trial to assess the effectiveness of the TSM program on middle school students’ CSA and PSB outcomes; (2) Investigate the durability of TSM effects throughout middle school and into the first year of high school; and (3) Assess the differential impact of TSM on student outcomes by demographic subgroups. The study will engage 40 middle schools which will be randomized into one of two experimental conditions—TSM for students and school adults (Condition A), TSM for school adults only (Condition B)—or to the control condition (business as usual) in which school are eligible for delayed rollout. Data will be collected from adults and students at baseline, after one year, after two years, and (for the two older student cohorts) during high school. The primary adult outcomes are their preparation and actions for the prevention of CSA and PSB. The primary student outcomes include program effects on their knowledge, social-emotional competencies, skillsets and safety outcomes relevant to the prevention of PSB. Analyses of the outcomes for participants in Condition B will yield insights about the value of extra training for school adults to shift the middle school environment towards prevention; compared to the Control condition, we will learn if TSM for School Adults is by itself an effective intervention. Similarly, analysis of the outcomes for participants in Condition A will provide information on the efficacy of the combination of TSM for School Adults and classroom instructional time. Finally, because educating youth to prevent PSB will always remain an important learning goal for this age group, direct comparison of Condition A to Condition B will yield information about the relative value of added classroom instructional time compared to TSM for adults only. Key innovations include TSM’s adult-focused training component, a rules-based approach, a flexible delivery model requiring less instructional time, and a dual focus on preventing negative outcomes while promoting positive developmental competencies. Methodological innovations include examining cumulative and cross-sectional effects across three student cohorts and evaluating practices for Safe Adult and Safe Peer-to-Peer Communications to prevent CSA and PSB.