Evaluation Results: Bedsider Works

We are pleased to share the news that Bedsider is the first digital intervention in reproductive health in the U.S.—with adults as an audience—that has shown to prevent unplanned pregnancy.

Years of research went into the creation of Bedsider. Many more years have been spent raising awareness of our program among our target demographic of women age 18 to 29. Time and time again, we were told that people loved Bedsider for its engaging, approachable tone and useful content and tools. The next logical step was to assess the effectiveness of our work. So, in 2014, we initiated a professional, independent, random assignment evaluation of our program.

The results are in and we are pleased to share the news that Bedsider is the first digital intervention in reproductive health in the U.S.—with adults as an audience—that has shown to prevent unplanned pregnancy.

Among women age 18 to 29 who participated in the yearlong randomized controlled trial:

• Women in the Bedsider group were 1.51 times less likely to have a pregnancy scare than those in the control group.
• Women in the Bedsider group were 2.54 times less likely to have unprotected sex.
• Women in the Bedsider group were 3.79 times less likely to report an unplanned pregnancy.
• Women in the Bedsider group were also more likely to use a more effective method of contraception.

The full report, which was published in Social Marketing Quarterly, can be downloaded at your convenience.

This affirmation of our work is driving us forward and we invite you to be a part of it as Power to Decide, the campaign to prevent unplanned pregnancy, continues its on-going learning and assessment of the Bedsider program. If you have an idea about a research project, please contact us.