The Government Accountability Office has released a report on Abstinence 
Education:  Efforts to Assess the Accuracy and Effectiveness of 
Federally Funded Programs (Oct. 2006), available at:  
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-07-87.  
 
Why GAO Did This Study:
 
Reducing the incidence of sexually transmitted diseases and unintended 
pregnancies is one objective of the Department of Health and Human Services 
(HHS).  HHS provides funding to states and organizations that provide 
abstinence-until-marriage education as one approach to address this 
objective. 
 
GAO was asked to describe the oversight of federally funded abstinence-
until-marriage education programs.  GAO is reporting on (1) efforts by HHS 
and states to assess the scientific accuracy of materials used in these 
programs and (2) efforts by HHS, states, and researchers to assess the 
effectiveness of these programs.  GAO reviewed documents and interviewed 
HHS officials in the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) and the 
Office of Population Affairs (OPA) that award grants for these programs. 

What GAO Found:

Efforts by HHS and states to assess the scientific accuracy of materials 
used in abstinence-until-marriage education programs have been limited. 
This is because HHS’s Administration for Children and Families (ACF)—
which awards grants to two programs that account for the largest portion of 
federal spending on abstinence-until-marriage education—does not review 
its grantees’ education materials for scientific accuracy and does not 
require grantees of either program to review their own materials for 
scientific accuracy.   In contrast, the Office of Population Affairs (OPA) 
does review the scientific accuracy of grantees’ proposed educational 
materials.  In addition, not all states that receive funding from ACF have 
chosen to review their program materials for scientific accuracy. In 
particular, 5 of the 10 states that GAO contacted conduct such reviews. 
Officials from these states reported using a variety of approaches in their 
reviews.  While the extent to which federally funded abstinence-until-
marriage education materials are inaccurate is not known, in the course of 
their reviews OPA and some states reported that they have found 
inaccuracies in abstinence-until-marriage education materials.  For 
example, one state official described an instance in which abstinence-
until-marriage materials incorrectly suggested that HIV can pass through 
condoms because the latex used in condoms is porous. 
 
HHS, states, and researchers have made a variety of efforts to assess the 
effectiveness of abstinence-until-marriage education programs; however, a 
number of factors limit the conclusions that can be drawn about the 
effectiveness of abstinence-until-marriage education programs.  ACF and 
OPA have required their grantees to report on various outcomes that the 
agencies use to measure the effectiveness of grantees’ abstinence-until-
marriage education programs.  In addition, 6 of the 10 states in GAO’s 
review have worked with third-party evaluators to assess the effectiveness 
of abstinence-until-marriage education programs in their states.  Several 
factors, however, limit the conclusions that can be drawn about the 
effectiveness of abstinence-until-marriage education programs. 
 
Most of the efforts to evaluate the effectiveness of abstinence-until-
marriage education programs included in GAO’s review have not met 
certain minimum scientific criteria—such as random assignment of 
participants and sufficient follow-up periods and sample sizes—that 
experts have concluded are necessary in order for assessments of 
program effectiveness to be scientifically valid, in part because such 
designs can be expensive and time-consuming to carry out.  In addition, 
the results of efforts that meet the criteria of a scientifically valid 
assessment have varied and two key studies funded by HHS that meet 
these criteria have not yet been completed.  When completed, these 
HHS-funded studies may add substantively to the body of research on the 
effectiveness of abstinence-until-marriage education programs. 
 
What GAO Recommends:
 
To address concerns about the scientific accuracy of materials used in 
abstinence-until-marriage education programs, GAO recommends that 
the Secretary of HHS develop procedures to help assure the accuracy 
of such materials used in programs administered by ACF.  HHS agreed to 
consider this recommendation.  HHS also provided information on steps it 
takes to assure accuracy, which GAO incorporated into the report, as 
appropriate.