Love Notes: A quasi‐experimental comparison of formats and a 3‐month follow‐up

Abstract Objective The focus of this research was to examine the impact of Love Notes in a variety of settings among youth with elevated risk and compare an adaptation of Love Notes that compressed 13 lessons into a nine‐lesson format. Background Previous research on an older version of Love Notes found evidence of its impact on sexual behavior, but an updated version needs to be tested in applied settings, with nonsexual relationship factors, looking at both formats. Method Data were gathered from youth at mental health facilities, alternative high schools, and from select groupings within traditional high schools. Youth were nonrandomly assigned to a 13‐lesson format, a nine‐lesson format, or a control group. Linear mixed‐effect models estimated within‐person trajectory changes. Follow‐up data were analyzed using latent growth curves. Results Loves Notes changed targeted outcomes, relative to the control group, without a functional difference between the nine‐ versus 13‐lesson formats. For the secondary outcomes the 13‐lesson format displayed slightly better results than the nine‐lesson format. Gains made in the primary outcomes were maintained over the 3‐month follow‐up. Conclusion Overall, Love Notes shows preliminary evidence of improving outcomes for youth in at‐risk contexts. Implications Love Notes may be a reasonable choice for FLE programming if the goal of the intervention is to change the perceptions of youth regarding relationships. An adaptation to shorten the presentation while retaining content still offers significant primary and secondary benefits to participants.