PASHA Program Archive ST16

Focus on Kids: An Adolescent HIV Risk Prevention Program
Bonita F. Stanton, MD, Jennifer Galbraith, MA, Linda Kaljee, Ph.D., Maureen Black Ph.D., Susan Feigelman, MD, Xiaoming Li, Ph.D., and Izabel Ricardo, Ph.D.

Focus on Kids (FOK) is a culturally-based HIV-risk reduction intervention program directed towards high-risk urban youth. The program is designed for delivery in community center settings rather than schools or clinics in order to reach those with higher rates of truancy and lower use of health care services. The program targets "naturally-formed peer groups" through a series of eight 1.5 hour weekly sessions plus an optional one-day retreat. The curriculum draws on Protection Motivation Theory and uses multiple delivery formats (lectures, video presentations, role-playing, small group discussion) to prevent factual materials on HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases and contraception. An evaluation of the curriculum was conducted in 1993 in nine recreation centers of three Baltimore public housing developments. The intervention group of 206 African-American youth was compared with a control group of 177 African-American youth at six and twelve months post-intervention. Researchers found that at six months, condom-use rates were significantly higher among youth in the intervention group than the control group. Condom-use intention and perceptions about condom use were also positively affected. At twelve months, rates of condom use, condom use intention and positive condom perceptions were no longer significantly higher among intervention than control subjects.