Taking Charge Initiative for Adolescent Mothers: Study Review

Overview of the Study Design and Purpose

The article "Helping Adolescent Mothers to Achieve in School: An Evaluation of the Taking Charge Group Intervention" (Harris & Franklin, 2009) is a quantitative study. It uses a quasi-experimental design with pre- and post-tests for both a comparison group and a treatment group. Participants were all pregnant or parenting adolescent females. For ethical reasons, adolescents were not denied access to the initiative; rather, they self-selected their involvement. Those who chose to participate populated the treatment group, and those who chose not to participate populated the comparison group.

The purpose of this research is summative evaluation — that is, the goal is to evaluate the effectiveness of a specific intervention, the Taking Charge Initiative, for a specific population: pregnant or parenting adolescent mothers. The research further focuses on the Hispanic or Mexican population within this group. The evaluation examines outcomes through a cross-sectional study. Rather than following participants over the course of their lives, the researchers provide a snapshot of participants' lives at the time of the intervention and immediately afterward. Specifically, the study is concerned with identifying changes in school attendance and grade average.

The intervention at the Taking Charge Initiative is heavily grounded in theory. Social Learning Theory is the overarching framework guiding the intervention's actions and structure. Social Learning Theory operates on the assumption that individuals learn in social settings, from one another. The initiative organizes adolescents in a group setting, allowing them to interact and learn through observing others in similar situations. Transactional coping theory and problem-solving theory also shape the skills developed on a daily basis.

Theoretical Framework and Literature Review

This research is further informed by social practice theory, in that it evaluates the intervention while taking into account adolescent development and the particular needs of this population. For example, the intervention focuses on group-centered and task-centered approaches, which have proven effective for adolescents in similar programs. The Taking Charge Initiative rewards small changes in behavior through a point-based system that recognizes incremental accomplishments such as attending school, completing homework, or attending group sessions. The initiative also accounts for its institutional context — because it is housed within a school, the number of sessions is limited accordingly.

The review of literature focuses on current information, beginning with a brief overview of adolescent pregnancy statistics. For example, the teen pregnancy rate is reported as of 2005, and the Hispanic adolescent rate is drawn from a study published in 2006. Relevant theories informing the initiative's development are drawn from current sources — that is, sources published after any significant shift in expert understanding. For instance, transactional coping theory has evolved over time, but the article uses Lazarus and Folkman's (1984) version, which is generally accepted as the standard in the field.

The study seeks to determine the effectiveness of the initiative by posing a research question: can the Taking Charge Initiative be effectively applied to pregnant or parenting adolescent females? Although not explicitly stated, this question is apparent through examination of the literature review, the variables used, and the results analyzed.

Research Questions, Hypotheses, and Variables

There are two major hypotheses in this study. The first is that pregnant and parenting adolescent females who participate in the Taking Charge Initiative will show an increase in school attendance compared to those who do not participate. The second is that participating adolescents will demonstrate an increase in grade point average compared to non-participating peers. Like the research question, neither hypothesis is explicitly stated but both are apparent through review of the methods and results sections.

The variable of "group" consisted of a treatment group and a comparison group, representing nominal data since the two categories are descriptive with no natural order. The variable of "school attendance" was operationally defined as the percentage of days a student was absent out of the total school days. An absent day was defined as attending school for less than half a day; a present day was defined as attending more than half the day. This is ratio data, as an absolute zero exists. The variable of "grade average" was operationally defined as the average grade reported by the school's grading system for a six-week period. This is also ratio data, as the grading scale has an absolute zero.

The measure of group membership may not have been fully culturally sensitive. Some cultures encourage reliance on family rather than structured institutional support, which may have discouraged participation. Privacy concerns may also have been a factor, as some cultures are less likely to publicly discuss personal problems and therefore less inclined to engage in group-based interventions.

Data Analysis and Results

The population of interest is adolescent females who are pregnant or parenting and currently enrolled in school. Although not all participants identified as Mexican or Hispanic, the majority did. This was intentional, making Hispanic and Mexican cultural context central to the study.

Evidence exists that measurements in this study were both reliable and valid. Reliability was assessed through internal consistency using Cronbach's alpha. The reported α = .80 for pre-test attendance across both groups. For the post-test, α = .88 for the treatment group and α = .78 for the comparison group. Threats to validity were substantially reduced by including both a treatment and a comparison group. Comparing these groups decreases the likelihood that history, maturation, or testing effects negatively influenced validity, making it more likely that post-test results reflect the impact of the intervention itself.

To evaluate the data, an ANOVA was used for both pre-test and post-test data. ANOVA is appropriate when a researcher wishes to determine whether a significant difference exists between two or more groups. In this case, researchers sought to determine whether differences existed between the comparison and treatment groups before and after the treatment period. A Bonferroni correction was applied to offset Type I error, with alpha set at .01. The Bonferroni correction is appropriate when testing multiple hypotheses, as it reduces the familywise error rate — in this case, appropriate because researchers were testing both attendance and grade average simultaneously.

After analyzing the pre- and post-test data, results indicated a significant difference in both attendance and grade average between the treatment and comparison groups. Groups were assumed to be equivalent after the pre-test, where an ANOVA found no significant differences in the demographic variables of age and grade level, or in the outcome variables of attendance and grade average. The pre-test captured the first six weeks of the spring semester.