Love Notes

For a growing number of adolescents and young adults, unplanned pregnancy, single parenting, and troubled relationships derail personal goals. Love Notes was created for this vulnerable audience, some already pregnant or parenting. In 13 lessons, they discover—often for the first time—how to make wise choices about relationships, sexuality, pregnancy, partnering, and more. Rather than focusing on what to avoid, Love Notes builds assets and appeals to aspirations. Using a strengths-based approach, it offers young people new conceptual frameworks to help them make informed decisions instead of sliding into unplanned choices that can derail their lives.

Love Notes hypothesizes that preventing pregnancy must expand beyond teaching young people about the scope of contraceptive options. Rather, interventions must build young people’s skills for cultivating healthy relationships, selves, and sexual behaviors: planning and pacing relationships and sex, self-efficacy and resilience around relationships, proven communication skills, and understanding the benefits of deciding when it comes to family formation.

This program is approved for WV Expanded School Mental Health.

Last reviewed: 2023
Currently under re-review.

Intended Outcomes:

Key outcomes for adolescents and young adults include:
  • decreased teenage pregnancy
  • fewer sexual partners
  • decreased sexual initiation
  • decreased frequency of sexual activity
  • increased contraceptive use and consistency
  • more likely to remain abstinent or return to abstinence

Continuum of Care:
Selective Prevention

Topic Areas:
Behavioral Health/Mental Health, Disruptive Behaviors, Physical Health, Substance Use

Ages:
Teen/Adolescent (13-18), Young Adult (19-24)

Geographic Locations:
Rural, Urban

Delivery Settings:
Community-Based, Congregate Care Facility, School-Based

Cultural Considerations:
No research found involving diverse populations

Audience:
This program was developed especially for teens and young adults (ages 16-24) at risk for unstable and poor quality relationships, unplanned pregnancies, and for those who are pregnant or already parenting.

Credentials:
There are no minimum qualifications or credentials necessary to implement the program. People with a wide range of qualifications and experience can use the Love Notes program since it can be delivered in schools, community outreach organizations, group homes, hospitals, crises centers, churches, and more.

Manuals:
Yes

Is Training Required?
No

Who can provide the required training?
Although training is not required for Love Notes, it is highly encouraged to increase confidence and competence of instructors and to improve program fidelity. Please contact The Dibble Institute for all training inquiries. You can learn more and find their contact information here: https://www.dibbleinstitute.org/trainings/curriculum-training/#1590535285449-2acee23f-bfa2

Program Costs (materials, training, etc.):
Yes, refer to program website

Program/Practice Website:
https://www.dibbleinstitute.org/our-programs/love-notes-4-0/

Relevant Published, Peer-Reviewed Research:

Cunningham, Antle & Langley (2022). Impact of a relationship-based intervention, Love Notes, on teen pregnancy prevention. https://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12798

Additional Sources:

https://www.cebc4cw.org/program/love-notes-ebp/

https://tppevidencereview.youth.gov/document.aspx?rid=3&sid=281&mid=1

Promising rating

WV Rating:
Promising
»WV Ratings Info

Rationale for Rating:

There is simply not enough data yet.

Contraindications or Concerns:
None identified

Other Registries/Ratings

The California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare:
Not Yet Rated

Blueprints for Healthy Youth Development:
Not On Registry

Clearinghouse for Military Family Readiness:
Not On Registry

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Model Programs Guide:
Not On Registry

Washington State Institute for Public Policy:
Not On Registry