ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on Relationship Smarts PLUS, an evidence-based relationship skills curriculum for teenagers 13-18 years of age, and Love Notes: Making Relationships Work (“Love Notes”), its adaptation for older teens and young adults (16-24 years). Since Love Notes is developed for older youth, including
young parents, it contains many of the same relationship concepts of Relationship Smarts PLUS, but has a stronger focus on sexual decision making and planning for sexual choices. Relationship Smarts PLUS is based on the results of a five-year, federally funded, rigorous evaluation with 8,000 teenagers conducted by Jennifer Kerpelman, Ph.D., at Auburn University (Kerpelman, Pittman, Adler-Baeder, Stringer, Eryigit, Cadely, & Harrell-Levy, 2010; Kerpelman, Pittman, Adler-Baeder, Eryigit, & Paulk, 2009; Kerpelman, 2007; Adler-Baeder, Kerpelman, Schramm, Higginbotham, & Paulk, 2007; Adler-Baeder & Kerpelman, 2005). Both Relationship Smarts PLUS and Love Notes are included on the National Registry of Evidence Based Programs and Practices (NREPP), a service of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA). Love Notes is currently in the fourth year of a major federal (U.S.) pregnancy prevention evaluation study in the Tier II track of innovative approaches (principal investigators: Becky Antle and Anita Barbee at University of Louisville).
