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Title: Impact of a school-based AIDS prevention program on risk and protective behavior for newly sexually active students.
Author: Levy SR, Perhats C, Weeks K, Handler AS, Zhu C, Flay BR.
Journal: J Sch Health; 1995 Apr; 65(4):145-51. PubMed ID: 7603052.
Abstract:
This project assessed the impact of a school-based AIDS prevention program on student participation in sexual risk and protective behaviors such as use of condoms and use of condoms with foam and intention to participate in such behaviors. The paper focuses on students who became sexually active for the first time between the seventh and eighth grade ("changers," n = 312). The school-based intervention was developed using social cognitive theory and the social influences model of behavior change. Using an experimental, longitudinal design, 15 high-risk school districts were divided randomly into two treatment (10 districts) and one control (five districts) conditions. Students in both treatment conditions received a 10-lesson classroom program in the seventh grade with a five-lesson booster in the eighth grade, while control students received basic AIDS education (current practice in their districts) in compliance with state mandates. Results indicated classroom programs had an impact on certain protective behaviors and on frequency of sexual activity the past month. Post-intervention measures also indicated the program affected students' intentions to perform specific protective behaviors. The Youth AIDS Prevention Project (YAPP) program was designed to prevent STDs, HIV/AIDS, and substance abuse among junior high school students. The 15 participating school districts at high risk of HIV infection were recruited in the Chicago metropolitan area. The program began during the 1991-1992 school year (7th grade portion of the program) and continued through the 1992-1993 school year (8th grade portion of the program). During the year of intervention control students received basic AIDS education. The number of students with matching posttest data decreased to 1669 (1001 treatment and 668 control) by the end of 8th grade. Students in the treatment condition were significantly more likely to report ever using condoms with foam (24.3% of 186 treatment students vs. 14.5% of 124 controls, p 0.01). Among students who were sexually active the past month, treatment students were more likely to have engaged in protective behaviors during that time than control students (87.8% of 49 treatment students used condoms vs. 76.7% of 43 controls; and 40.8% used condoms with foam vs. 25.6% of controls). More than 97% of students in both treatment and control groups stated they intended to use a condom if they planned on having sex in the next 12 months. In contrast, treatment and control groups differed significantly with respect to their intentions to use condoms with foam in the next 12 months (84.6% of 186 treatment students vs. 62.9% of 124 controls, p 0.001). Multivariate logistic regression analyses predicted protective behaviors for changers in the past 12 months (n = 312) and for changers who were sexually active in the past 30 days (n = 92). Gender and race were significant predictors of condom with foam use in the past year, with males and Hispanics significantly more likely to report use of condoms with foam (p 0.05). For changers who were sexually active in the past month, YAPP students were marginally more likely than controls, and males were almost 3.5 times as likely as females to report using condoms with foam.

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