Introduction
The goal of the Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP) is to educate adolescents on abstinence and contraception to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS. PREP is administered by the Family and Youth Services Bureau (FYSB) in the Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
All PREP grantees are required to submit performance measures data to FYSB. The data provide systematic information about program operations and outcomes for all PREP grantees, their provider organizations, the programs they operate, and the youth they serve. The performance measures help answer three research questions:
- What were the characteristics of PREP programs?
- Whom did PREP programs serve?
- How did youth respond to the PREP programs?
Purpose
This fact sheet summarizes some findings based on performance measures for PREP grantees for the 2020—2021 reporting period.
Key Findings and Highlights
- During the 2020—2021 reporting period, PREP funded 92 grantees and 420 program providers. Providers operated 457 programs with 1,540 facilitators and served 73,081 youth during the period.
- The most commonly implemented program models were Making Proud Choices! and Teen Outreach Program.
- PREP grantees must address at least three of six adulthood preparation subjects (APSs). Programs most commonly addressed healthy relationships, healthy life skills, and adolescent development.
- Nearly two-thirds of participants attended PREP programming virtually, and one-third attended in schools during school time.
- Nearly three-quarters of youth participants completed at least 75 percent of the intended programming hours.
- PREP programs served diverse populations of youth.
- Nearly one-third of high-school-age and older youth reported having ever had sex before starting PREP programming.
- At program exit, just over half of high-school-age and older youth planned to abstain from sex for at least the next three months as a result of participating in PREP.
- At program exit, most youth reported positive perceptions of the PREP programs.
Methods
This fact sheet is based on measures PREP grantees submitted for the 2020—2021 reporting period. Grantees submit data on PREP performance measures at three levels: (1) grantee, (2) provider, and (3) program. Data on some measures are collected from entry and exit surveys administered to individual participants, and those results are combined at the program level for submission to FYSB. Analyses in this fact sheet are based on combined findings across grantees, providers, and programs.
Grantees use a web-based system to submit performance measures to FYSB. Performance measures on structure, cost, and support for program implementation are submitted annually. Other measures—such as attendance, reach, and dosage, and measures of youth participants’ characteristics and experiences in PREP—are submitted twice a year.
Citation
Mittone, Diletta, Lara Hulsey, and Lauren Murphy. (2023). “PREP Performance Measures Fact Sheet: 2020—2021,” OPRE Report #2022-XX, Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Glossary
- PREP:
- Personal Responsibility Education Program
- FYSB:
- Family and Youth Services Bureau
- APS:
- Grantees were required to incorporate activities related to at least three adulthood preparation subjects (APSs): (1) healthy relationships, (2) adolescent development, (3) healthy life skills, (4) parent-child communication, (5) educational and career success, and (6) financial literacy.
- STI:
- Sexually transmitted infection