Impact of An Intervention on Teenage Oral Sex and Dual Contraceptive Use

Objective: We determined whether Power Through Choices (PTC) significantly reduced oral sex and increased dual method contraceptive use among teens. Methods: The design was a cluster randomized controlled trial involving 1036 youth recruited from 44 group care homes who completed surveys at pre-intervention, post-intervention, 6-month post-intervention, and 12-months post-intervention. Results: PTC intervention youth living outside of the homes at 6-months post-intervention were less likely to report ever having oral sex (AOR = 0.23, 95% CI = 0.08-0.67). PTC intervention youth had reduced odds of ever participating in oral sex at 12-months post-intervention (AOR = 0.47, 95% CI = 0.23-0.93). Conclusions: The PTC intervention had a positive effect on the reduction of youth oral sex behavior; however, future research should identify factors contributing to dual contraceptive methods use.