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This six-session program for high school students is delivered by regular
classroom teachers. Combining principles of the health belief model with social
psychology, the curriculum aims to improve students' knowledge, beliefs,
self-efficacy, and risk behaviors concerning HIV/AIDS. The first two classes
provide general information about the transmission and prevention of HIV/AIDS
and teach students how to appraise their own risk behaviors. During the next
two sessions, myths about peers' sexual behaviors are corrected, values
clarification is introduced, and students use role play and negotiation skills
to practice delaying sexual intercourse. The final lessons involve discussions
of purchasing and using condoms. A field study of the program was conducted
with a predominantly African-American and Hispanic sample of students attending
four New York City public high schools. Compared with a comparison group of
peers, program participants scored significantly higher on measures of
knowledge, beliefs about the benefits of risk reduction, and beliefs about
one's own ability to effect positive change (e.g., self-efficacy). At the
three-month follow-up assessment, the program was found to be particularly
effective in reducing sexually active participants' number of total sex
partners and number of sex acts with high-risk partners, and in increasing the
use of condoms.
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