Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 16, 2026

A Novel Method for Involving Women of Color at High Risk for Preterm Birth in Research Priority Setting
Published on: January 12, 2018
Intervening with couples: assessing contraceptive outcomes in a randomized pregnancy and HIV/STD risk reduction
Joan Marie Kraft1, S Marie Harvey, Sheryl Thorburn
1Division of Reproductive Health, United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia 30341, USA. jik4@cdc.gov
Purpose:
This study assessed the contraceptive outcomes of the Partners Against Risk-Taking: A Networking, Evaluation and Research Study (PARTNERS). The PARTNERS project developed and evaluated a 3-session intervention to help young women and their male partners reduce their risk for unintended pregnancies, and HIV and other STDs.
Methods:
Participating couples were randomly assigned to the 3-session intervention or a 1-session information session for couples. Changes in psychosocial factors related to women's motivation to use contraception and relationship factors were assessed using analysis of variance with repeated measures. Changes in contraceptive outcomes were assessed using logistic regression with generalized estimating equations.
Results:
Comparison of changes from baseline to 6 months among women who participated in the 3-session intervention with those who participated in the information session showed no significant intervention effect on reports of contraceptive use. Instead, contraceptive use increased in both conditions. Both groups exhibited similar changes in the psychosocial variable measuring the importance of avoiding pregnancy and in the relationship variable measuring women's participation in contraceptive decision making. Members of the intervention group, however, showed greater improvement in the psychosocial variable measuring positive expectations pertaining to partner's support for contraception.
Conclusion:
These findings raise questions for further investigation to better understand couples behavior, and whether and how to intervene with couples.
Related Concept Videos
Types of Biopharmaceutical Studies: Controlled and Non-Controlled Approaches
Non-controlled studies, commonly employed for initial exploration, lack a control group, rendering them susceptible to biases and external influences. In contrast, controlled...
Study Designs in Epidemiology
Observational studies are those where the researcher does not intervene but rather observes natural variations. They include cross-sectional, cohort, and case-control studies.
Community Based Intervention
Foundations of Community Mental Health Programs
Central to the success of community-based interventions is the...
Strategies for Assessing and Addressing Confounding
Confounding can be addressed at both the design phase of a study and through analytical methods after data...
Blinding
Intrauterine Drug Delivery Systems