Marseille 2007
| Abstract #412 - Effects of an HIV and Alcohol Prevention Study in Kwa-Zulu Natal | ||||
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Session: 36.4: Prevention lessons (Parallel) on Tuesday @ 14.00-16.00 in 5 Chaired by Theo Sandfort, William Zule Authors: Presenting Author: Dr Pam Cupp - PIRE, United States |
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| Additional Authors: Dr Rick Zimmerman, Dr Arvin Bhana, Dr Sonja Feist-Price, | ||||
| Aim: The aim of the study was to reduce both the initiation of risky sexual activity and the use of alcohol among adolescents in a peri-urban area of Kwa-Zulu-Natal, South Africa, through implementation of an interactive school-based program for 9th grade students augmented by an edu-tainment based booster for these same students once they reached 10th grade. | ||||
| Method / Issue: Learners in eight schools in the Pietermaritzburg region of South Africa were recruited to be part of a randomized control trial testing a new interactive curriculum based in large part on Amazing Alternatives (Perry et al., 1996) and Reducing the Risk (Barth, 1993). Schools were randomly assigned to an intervention or comparison curriculum condition for the main intervention; a separate clustered random assignment was done for the booster intervention. Data were collected from students prior to the curriculum intervention, and both six and fifteen months following the intervention. | ||||
| Results / Comments: For the main intervention: learners in the experimental intervention condition had more positive attitudes about waiting to have sex, reported greater self-efficacy about refusing sex, had weaker intentions about initiating sex, and actually were less likely to initiate sex at both the six month and fifteen month follow-up data collection points. In addition, learners in the intervention condition also reported weaker intentions to use alcohol with sex, less favorable attitudes about alcohol in general, and greater alcohol refusal self-efficacy at the six month follow-up period. These results were no longer evident at the fifteen montn follow-up. For the booster intervention: For: A comprehensive analysis of the potential impact of this intervention within either control or experimental schools showed no significant results. | ||||
| Discussion: By merging two evidence-based curricula developed in the U.S., one focusing on risky sex and the other on alcohol use, and by conducting formative work in South Africa to make the new curriculum culturally relevant, we were able to produce a program that resulted in significant decreases in risky attitudes and intentions related to sexual initiation and alcohol consumption, increased self-efficacy around refusing sex and alcohol, and showed a delay in initiation of sex among those not yet sexually active. | ||||
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