Child Trends Inc

The goal of this cluster-level randomized controlled trial is to evaluate the impacts of Let's Talk Birth Control, a clinical decision support intervention for adolescents that consists of a printed contraceptive decision aid (CDA), contraceptive counseling, and a QR code to the Bedsider.org Method Explorer (ME). The goal of Let's Talk Birth Control is to reduce rates of sex without a contraceptive method among adolescent patients, increase use of preferred contraceptive method, as well as to increase self-efficacy to discuss, obtain, and correctly use contraceptive methods
The primary research questions are:
* Does receiving care from a health center participating in Let's Talk Birth Control reduce rates of sex without a contraceptive method among adolescent patients compared to those visiting a standard of care control health center?
* Does receiving care from a health center participating in Let's Talk Birth Control increase use of preferred contraceptive method among adolescent patients compared to those visiting a standard of care control health center?
The evaluation will focus on the impacts of receiving the Let's Talk Birth Control intervention, as compared to receiving standard health care services.
As part of this study:
* All participants will be asked to complete baseline, 1-week post-intervention, and 9-month follow-up surveys.
* Participants at health centers randomized to receive the Let's Talk intervention, will be asked to:
* Review the Let's Talk CDA independently prior to meeting with their healthcare provider
* Participate in an observation focused on the provider's use of the CDA for contraceptive counseling during the healthcare visit (select participants only)
* Participate in a focus group discussing their perceptions of the Let's Talk Birth Control intervention (select participants only)
Staff at health centers randomized to receive the Let's Talk intervention will be asked to:
* Complete a 45-60 minute online asynchronous training covering patient-centered contraceptive counseling (PCCC) for adolescents and using the CDA
* Use the Let's Talk CDA to facilitate patient-centered contraceptive counseling with patients that have enrolled in the study

Child Trends will conduct a randomized control trial evaluation of Parent Toolkit 2.0, an innovative intervention for parents and caregivers of middle and high school students. Child Trends will collaborate with Morehouse School of Medicine, Tressa Tucker & Associates, LLC, and Good Deeds Ministry to implement and evaluate the program with 1,000 parent-teen pairs across Georgia. The program includes three components that will be delivered across a three-week period: (1) an online self-paced Parent Guide with information, tips, tools, and resources on adolescent health, including sexual health; (2) four videos modeling parent-teen communication around sex and contraception; and (3) two group-based sessions for parent participants to discuss program content and improve communication skills. The program aims to increase parent knowledge and parent-teen communication about adolescent health, sexual health, and relationships to help youth adopt health-promoting behaviors such as delaying sexual initiation and increasing contraceptive use.

The National Survey of Early Care and Education (NSECE) captures families' needs, preferences, and choices of non-parental care for children under age 13 and providers' child care and early education offerings. Since the NSECE was last conducted in 2019, the landscape of ECE has changed dramatically. Funding for early childhood programming has grown as policymakers recognize the important role access to ECE plays for families as a work support for parents and an investment in children's future educational and economic opportunities. At the same time, beginning in 2020, the nation experienced the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to significant shifts in the U.S. economy. These circumstances likely altered parents' use of ECE and the labor market and economic forces in which ECE providers operate.
The 2024 NSECE builds on findings from the 2012 and 2019 NSECE to allow for comparisons of supply and demand of child care and early education over the 12 years that span data collection. The 2024 NSECE aims to inform future policy discussions about child care and early education at the local, state, and national levels by providing data to:
* Build on the efforts and lessons from the 2012 and 2019 NSECE to allow for comparisons of child care and early education supply and the early care and education workforce from 2012 to 2024
* Capture the characteristics of households with children under age 13, such as parental employment status and schedules, preferences and choices of non-parental care, and other factors that affect their need for and access to child care and early education
* Document how the field of child care and early education responded to policy initiatives during the period between 2012 and 2024, including changes in supply and demand during the COVID-19 pandemic starting in 2020