Do ETR’s evidence-based programs address adolescent development?

Some do, but not all. Many evidence-based programs begin the curriculum lessons assuming youth already have had instruction on puberty and basic reproductive anatomy and physiology.

The developers of evidence-based programs (EBPs) certainly have taken adolescent development into account in the curriculum activities around increasing perception of risk, bolstering protective attitudes, and building self-efficacy around skills, but instruction on adolescent sexual development intended for the youth themselves is only found in a few of the more comprehensive programs.

Lessons on puberty and adolescent sexual development are included in the following programs:

• Get Real
• Promoting Health Among Teens--Abstinence Only
• Promoting Health Among Teens—Comprehensive

ETR also offers a Basics of Reproductive Health supplement that can be taught before an EBP to provide key information on sexual development and the reproductive system, if youth have not already had this instruction.