Design and development of a film-based intervention about teenage men and unintended pregnancy: Applying the Medical Research Council framework in practice

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evalprogplan.2014.11.003Get rights and content
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Highlights

  • Details the design and development of a sex education intervention for teenage men.

  • Shares a model of intervention development to critique and enhance MRC guidelines.

  • Responds to calls for gender-specific unintended pregnancy interventions.

Abstract

Following the UK Medical Research Council's (MRC) guidelines for the development and evaluation of complex interventions, this study aimed to design, develop and optimise an educational intervention about young men and unintended teenage pregnancy based around an interactive film. The process involved identification of the relevant evidence base, development of a theoretical understanding of the phenomenon of unintended teenage pregnancy in relation to young men, and exploratory mixed methods research. The result was an evidence-based, theory-informed, user-endorsed intervention designed to meet the much neglected pregnancy education needs of teenage men and intended to increase both boys’ and girls’ intentions to avoid an unplanned pregnancy during adolescence. In prioritising the development phase, this paper addresses a gap in the literature on the processes of research-informed intervention design. It illustrates the application of the MRC guidelines in practice while offering a critique and additional guidance to programme developers on the MRC prescribed processes of developing interventions. Key lessons learned were: (1) know and engage the target population and engage gatekeepers in addressing contextual complexities; (2) know the targeted behaviours and model a process of change; and (3) look beyond development to evaluation and implementation.

Keywords

Behavioural interventions
Intervention development
Sex education
Teenage men
Unintended pregnancy

Abbreviations

MRC
United Kingdom Medical Research Council
RSE
relationship and sexuality education

Cited by (0)

Dr Áine Aventin is a Research Fellow at the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Queen's University Belfast. Her research interests lie in the development, evaluation and implementation of complex interventions for children and young people and the use of new technologies for encouraging adolescent engagement in positive health related behaviours.

Dr Maria Lohan is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Queen's University Belfast and Visiting Professor, School of Nursing, University of British Columbia (Okanagan campus). She specialises in men's health research with a particular focus on men and young men's reproductive and sexual health and fatherhood. Her current research focuses on developing theoretically informed men's health research and transitioning empirical findings towards adolescent men-centred interventions through innovative knowledge exchange activities. She is a member of the editorial board of the International Journal of Men's Health and of the management board of the Men's Health Forum of Ireland.

Dr Peter O’Halloran is a registered general nurse and Lecturer at the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Queen's University Belfast. He has expertise in both quantitative and qualitative research methods applied to the development, implementation and evaluation of health and social care interventions. His current research focuses on organisational case studies of the management of palliative and end of life care.

Dr Marion Henderson is a Senior Investigator Scientist at the Medical Research Council's Social and Public Health Sciences Unit. She worked on the SHARE randomised controlled trial to evaluate teacher-delivered sex education. She has expertise in the evaluation of complex public health interventions and a specific research interest in sexual health education.