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Preventing Pregnancy, Improving Lives
by Nancy Hatch Woodward, 05.24.05
"Because of the program, it was a good time to grow up." |
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Back in the 1980s, Dr. Michael Carrera wasn't satisfied with the teen pregnancy prevention workshops he led at the Children's Aid Society in New York. "The information we were giving young people wasn't sticking," he explains. "They were learning it, but it wasn't helping them change their behavior."
So Dr. Carrera decided to go straight to the experts — he asked the teens in his workshops what they wanted in a program. Since then, his program has become extremely successful in reducing teen pregnancy — and in improving the lives of his young participants.
The Experts Weigh In ...
The teens who participated in Dr. Carrera's workshops came up with six out of the seven parts of what's now known as the "Carrera Model," one of the most effective teen pregnancy prevention programs to date.
The six components young people asked for were
- academic assistance to help them do well in school and prepare for college
- a job club to help them find a job
- access to confidential counseling so they could talk about emotional and mental health issues with a trusted adult
- self-expression activities like music and art to let them nurture their talents
- family life and sex education to provide accurate, helpful information about sex and relationships
- ongoing involvement in competitive non-team sports so they could get active
Dr. Carrera added the last component, medical and dental services, because he believes that all teens need their own health care providers. The program starts at age 11 and works with teens until they graduate from high school. Workshops are 50 weeks a year, six days a week — every day after school and on Saturdays.
Real Talk
Despite that intense time commitment, participants give the program rave reviews. Christopher Lee, 24, was one of the first graduates of "Now for the Future," a program in Indianapolis, IN, that followed the Carrera model. Chris says he was amazed at how open the sex education component of the program was. "When you're a teenager, sex is all you think about. It really helped to learn that that's natural," he explains. He says the program's director, Kathleen Baldwin, provided accurate information and was always there to answer teens' questions and to talk with them.
Dwight McFord, 18, joined "TEEN Societies," the Carrera-model program in Broward County, FL, when he was in seventh grade. He credits the program with helping him get through high school and get accepted at Johnson & Wales University in Miami, where he plans on majoring in culinary arts. "Before I got into the program, I just kind of hung out, but they helped me with my homework and showed me how to get a decent job," he says. "They even showed us how to fill out applications and write resumes."
The sex-education aspect was also important to Dwight. "If it hadn't been for the program, I wouldn't have had any sex education," he says.
A Record of Success
Dr. Carrera's program has had measurable success. In one three-year study comparing his participants to other teens, the girls in the Carrera program had one-half the number of births and were twice as likely to use birth control as those who weren't in the program. The young women were more able to avoid being pressured into sex, and both the young women and young men postponed having sex for the first time. As an added bonus, their SAT and PSAT scores were increased. "We challenge the notion that young people are at risk, and instead believe they are at promise," says Dr. Carrera.
Chris, who now has his associate's degree in business administration and merchandising and is starting work on a degree in international business, agrees. "Because of the program, it was a good time to grow up," he says. "It made going through my teenage years easier than having to go through it by myself." |
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