Teaching refusal skills to sexually active adolescents

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Public Health
• Adolescent Health

Background:

• Sexually active adolescent females with disabilities often lack effective refusal strategies.
• Unwanted sexual intercourse poses significant risks to this vulnerable population.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess and improve refusal skills in sexually active adolescent females with disabilities.
• To reduce instances of unwanted sexual intercourse through targeted intervention.

Main Methods:

• Developed role-play scenarios assessing refusal skills in various high-risk situations.
• Implemented a refusal skills training program using rationale, modeling, rehearsal, feedback, and reinforcement.
• Monitored target behaviors at baseline, during training, and for generalization across staff and time.

Main Results:

• Baseline rates of target refusal behaviors were initially low.
• Training significantly increased the frequency and effectiveness of refusal behaviors.
• Observed generalization of skills across different staff and over time.
• One-year follow-up indicated a decrease in sexual activity among participants.

Conclusions:

• Refusal skills training is effective in empowering adolescent females with disabilities to prevent unwanted sexual intercourse.
• The intervention demonstrated sustained positive outcomes, including reduced sexual activity, one year post-training.