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To meet the comprehensive needs of runaway youths between 11 and 18 years
of age, this program combines 20 small group discussion sessions with case
management and private counseling. The group sessions provide general
instruction about HIV/AIDS through video and art workshops in which youth
create their own educational materials and review commercially available
videos. Participants also receive behavioral and cognitive skills training for
coping with high-risk situations. The case management and counseling components
are designed to identify individual needs and provide youth with appropriate
services (e.g., legal, medical, vocational). A field study of the program was
conducted at two urban shelters serving predominantly African-American
runaways. The sessions were held over a three week period, but youth joined the
program at various points, and their levels of participation varied. For
runaways who attended at least fifteen sessions, the high-risk pattern of
sexual behavior dropped in frequency from 20% to zero over a six-month period.
At the two-year follow-up assessment, program effects remained strongest for
male and African-American participants.
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