ABAN AYA Youth Project: 5th Grade

Investigators: Brian Flay, DPhil, Sally Graumlich, EdD, CHES, & the ABAN AYA Team

ABAN AYA is an Afrocentric social development curriculum instructed over a four-year period, beginning in the fifth grade. The ABAN AYA 5th Grade product contains all of the materials needed to implement the ABAN AYA 5th grade curriculum. The ABAN AYA name is drawn from two Ghanaian words: ABAN (fence) signifies double/social protection; AYA (the unfurling fern) signifies self-determination. The purpose of ABAN AYA is to promote abstinence from sex, and to teach students how to avoid drugs and alcohol, and how to resolve conflicts non-violently. ABAN AYA was developed to address multiple problem behaviors such as violence, substance abuse, delinquency and sexual activity, simultaneously in a long-term intervention specifically for African American youths in grades five through eight. The longitudinal evaluation of the program involved 12 schools in the metropolitan Chicago area between 1994 and 1998. At baseline, 1153 fifth graders participated in the pencil-and-paper assessment. All participants were African American. Follow-up assessments were conducted at the conclusion of grades five through eight. At study conclusion, there were no significant intervention effects for girls. For boys, however, ABAN AYA significantly reduced the rate of increase in violent behavior (by 35% compared with controls), provoking behavior (41%) school delinquency (31%) drug use (32%), and recent sexual intercourse (44%). ABAN AYA also improved the rate of increase in condom use (95%) as compared to the health education control condition. Aban Aya is supported by the Office of Adolescent Health's Teen Pregnancy Prevention (TPP) program as an EBI that is medically accurate, age appropriate, and has proven through rigorous evaluation to prevent teen pregnancy and/or associated sexual risk behaviors. Click here to view more detailed information on this program.

ABAN AYA Youth Project: 6th Grade

Investigators: Brian Flay, DPhil, Sally Graumlich, EdD, CHES, & the ABAN AYA Team

ABAN AYA is an Afrocentric social development curriculum instructed over a four-year period, beginning in the fifth grade. The ABAN AYA 6th Grade product contains all of the materials needed to implement the ABAN AYA 6th grade curriculum. The ABAN AYA name is drawn from two Ghanaian words: ABAN (fence) signifies double/social protection; AYA (the unfurling fern) signifies self-determination. The purpose of ABAN AYA is to promote abstinence from sex, and to teach students how to avoid drugs and alcohol, and how to resolve conflicts non-violently. ABAN AYA was developed to address multiple problem behaviors such as violence, substance abuse, delinquency and sexual activity, simultaneously in a long-term intervention specifically for African American youths in grades five through eight. The longitudinal evaluation of the program involved 12 schools in the metropolitan Chicago area between 1994 and 1998. At baseline, 1153 fifth graders participated in the pencil-and-paper assessment. All participants were African American. Follow-up assessments were conducted at the conclusion of grades five through eight. At study conclusion, there were no significant intervention effects for girls. For boys, however, ABAN AYA significantly reduced the rate of increase in violent behavior (by 35% compared with controls), provoking behavior (41%) school delinquency (31%) drug use (32%), and recent sexual intercourse (44%). ABAN AYA also improved the rate of increase in condom use (95%) as compared to the health education control condition. Aban Aya is supported by the Office of Adolescent Health's Teen Pregnancy Prevention (TPP) program as an EBI that is medically accurate, age appropriate, and has proven through rigorous evaluation to prevent teen pregnancy and/or associated sexual risk behaviors. Click here to view more detailed information on this program.

ABAN AYA Youth Project: 7th Grade

Investigators: Brian Flay, DPhil, Sally Graumlich, EdD, CHES, & the ABAN AYA Team

ABAN AYA is an Afrocentric social development curriculum instructed over a four-year period, beginning in the fifth grade. The ABAN AYA 7th Grade product contains all of the materials needed to implement the ABAN AYA 7th grade curriculum. The ABAN AYA name is drawn from two Ghanaian words: ABAN (fence) signifies double/social protection; AYA (the unfurling fern) signifies self-determination. The purpose of ABAN AYA is to promote abstinence from sex, and to teach students how to avoid drugs and alcohol, and how to resolve conflicts non-violently. ABAN AYA was developed to address multiple problem behaviors such as violence, substance abuse, delinquency and sexual activity, simultaneously in a long-term intervention specifically for African American youths in grades five through eight. The longitudinal evaluation of the program involved 12 schools in the metropolitan Chicago area between 1994 and 1998. At baseline, 1153 fifth graders participated in the pencil-and-paper assessment. All participants were African American. Follow-up assessments were conducted at the conclusion of grades five through eight. At study conclusion, there were no significant intervention effects for girls. For boys, however, ABAN AYA significantly reduced the rate of increase in violent behavior (by 35% compared with controls), provoking behavior (41%) school delinquency (31%) drug use (32%), and recent sexual intercourse (44%). ABAN AYA also improved the rate of increase in condom use (95%) as compared to the health education control condition. Aban Aya is supported by the Office of Adolescent Health's Teen Pregnancy Prevention (TPP) program as an EBI that is medically accurate, age appropriate, and has proven through rigorous evaluation to prevent teen pregnancy and/or associated sexual risk behaviors. Click here to view more detailed information on this program.

ABAN AYA Youth Project: 8th Grade

Investigators: Brian Flay, DPhil, Sally Graumlich, EdD, CHES, & the ABAN AYA Team

ABAN AYA is an Afrocentric social development curriculum instructed over a four-year period, beginning in the fifth grade. The ABAN AYA 8th Grade product contains all of the materials needed to implement the ABAN AYA 8th grade curriculum. The ABAN AYA name is drawn from two Ghanaian words: ABAN (fence) signifies double/social protection; AYA (the unfurling fern) signifies self-determination. The purpose of ABAN AYA is to promote abstinence from sex, and to teach students how to avoid drugs and alcohol, and how to resolve conflicts non-violently. ABAN AYA was developed to address multiple problem behaviors such as violence, substance abuse, delinquency and sexual activity, simultaneously in a long-term intervention specifically for African American youths in grades five through eight. The longitudinal evaluation of the program involved 12 schools in the metropolitan Chicago area between 1994 and 1998. At baseline, 1153 fifth graders participated in the pencil-and-paper assessment. All participants were African American. Follow-up assessments were conducted at the conclusion of grades five through eight. At study conclusion, there were no significant intervention effects for girls. For boys, however, ABAN AYA significantly reduced the rate of increase in violent behavior (by 35% compared with controls), provoking behavior (41%) school delinquency (31%) drug use (32%), and recent sexual intercourse (44%). ABAN AYA also improved the rate of increase in condom use (95%) as compared to the health education control condition. Aban Aya is supported by the Office of Adolescent Health's Teen Pregnancy Prevention (TPP) program as an EBI that is medically accurate, age appropriate, and has proven through rigorous evaluation to prevent teen pregnancy and/or associated sexual risk behaviors. Click here to view more detailed information on this program.

Alcohol Skills Training Program

Investigators: Alan Marlatt, John S. Baer, Kim Fromme, Mary Larimer, Ellen Williams, & Daniel R. Kivlahan

Guided with the belief that college students can learn to moderate their drinking behavior, this intervention is designed for young people who have experienced negative consequences of alcohol use. The curriculum incorporates basic information and exercises in the areas of addiction, individual drinking cues, skills for resisting alcohol offers, and strategies for relaxation and stress management. Participants are asked to monitor and record their consumption of alcohol for the duration of the program. The program can be implemented with high school students as well. The intervention spans eight sessions. The ASTP program is suitable for university settings as well as social services or community-based organizations. This program was originally presented in eight 90-minute sessions. However, the schedule is flexible and can be adjusted to suit your particular site. Click here to view more detailed information on this program.

Boston City Hospital Maternal Health Habits Project, 1984-87

Investigators: Barry Zuckerman, Ralph Hingson, Deborah Frank and Hortensia Amaro

The 1984-87 Boston City Hospital Maternal Health Habits Project was conducted as part of an ongoing study of maternal health behaviors, psychosocial characteristics, and pregnancy outcomes. The study was designed to investigate the effects on infants of various prenatal factors, including the use of alcohol, cigarettes, and illicit drugs; violence; emotional well-being; social support; and life experiences. Subjects were continuously recruited from the Women's and Adolescent Prenatal Clinics of Boston City Hospital from July 1984 through June 1987. English- and Spanish-speaking women who were willing to give informed consent and who gave birth by December 31, 1987 were eligible to participate in the study. Participants were interviewed at least twice — once during the prenatal period at the time of registration in the study and again during the immediate postpartum period. A subset of the participants were also interviewed at 32 to 36 weeks into the pregnancy. Prenatal and postpartum interviews obtained information on patterns of use of cigarettes, alcohol, marijuana, cocaine, and psychoactive drugs; participants' demographic and psychosocial characteristics; and participants' reproductive and general medical histories. Also, at the time of interviews, participants submitted urine samples to be used for drug testing. After delivery, information documenting reproductive and medical histories, prenatal and intrapartum risk factors, and weight gain during pregnancy was abstracted from mothers' medical records. Infants were examined within 8 to 72 hours of delivery by a physician who was blinded to the mothers' prenatal histories.

California Perinatal Substance Exposure Study, 1992

Investigators: William A. Vega

This epidemiologic cross-sectional survey was conducted in order to obtain a 1992 estimate of prevalence of prenatal drug exposure by specific drug type for both the State of California as a whole and for the major regions within the state. Several other goals of the research included contrasting perinatal substance exposure prevalence for a variety of subgroups, including geographic region, socioeconomic level, race/ethnicity, and other sociodemographic factors. There was also interest in conducting a risk factor analysis to identify profiles of risk for individual-level perinatal substance exposure in California. It was hoped that data produced by this study would provide an accurate population-based estimates of the number of substance-exposed infants born in California, and thereby provide a basis for future studies, program evaluations, and clinical- and community-based interventions. Urine specimens and demographic information were collected anonymously from 29,494 pregnant women admitted for delivery in 202 maternity hospitals throughout the state between March and October, 1992. This study, which represents the largest survey of perinatal substance exposure reported to date, assessed 46 variables across 29,494 cases.

California Survey of AIDS Knowledge, Attitudes & Behavior 1987

Investigators: State of California, Dept. of Health Services, Office of AIDS

The California Survey of AIDS Knowledge, Attitudes and Behavior: 1987 gathered data through a survey of California adults for the purpose of forecasting the course of the AIDS epidemic and planning risk reduction programs in the State of California. Augmented data collection was employed for three risk-groups: (1) gay-identifying men, (2) multiple/high-risk partner heterosexuals, and (3) recreational drug users. Interviews were conducted from October 4, 1987 through December 20, 1987. The 1988 follow-up study to the California Survey of AIDS Knowledge, Attitudes and Behavior: 1987 has been archived as Sociometrics AIDS/STI Data Archive Dataset 02. The 1987 data collection program had eight major objectives: To gather population-based data bearing on the size of the three primary AIDS risk groups in the State of California: homosexual/bisexual men, IV drug users, and multiple/high-risk partner heterosexuals; To determine the basic socioeconomic and other demographic characteristics of these risk groups in order to both enhance general understanding and allow for sufficient audience analysis to develop effective risk reduction interventions; To ascertain AIDS awareness and information levels among risk groups, as well as determining the impact of the epidemic to date on sexual and other risk behaviors; To determine the incidence of specific risk behaviors among the risk groups, including unsafe sex practices, IV drug usage, and needle-sharing; and collect baseline information that would enable behavior change over time to be monitored; To measure the degree to which existing risk reduction programs have penetrated risk group audiences in the State of California, which will be useful in evaluating the effectiveness of such programs; To collect data bearing on the design of future risk reduction programs, including questions related to message definition and the selection of appropriate communication channels; To determine AIDS awareness and knowledge levels among the general (low-risk) population of the state of California; and To gather population based data on utilization of the health care delivery system in California. Interviews were conducted from October 4, 1987 through December 20, 1987. The completion rate for interviews was 71%. Interviews were conducted in two stages. An initial 15-minute interview determined whether a respondent was a member of one or more of three AIDS high-risk groups: gay-identifying men, multiple/high-risk partner heterosexuals, or recreational drug users (not limited to intravenous drug use). If a respondent qualified as high-risk, an additional battery of questions, lasting about 20 minutes, was administered.

California Survey of AIDS Knowledge, Attitudes & Behavior: 1988

Investigators: State of California, Dept. of Health Services, Office of AIDS

The California Survey of AIDS Knowledge, Attitudes and Behavior: 1988 gathered data on 311 variables through a telephone survey of California adults for the purpose of forecasting the course of the AIDS epidemic and planning risk reduction programs in the State of California. The study consisted of 4,661 telephone interviews with a household probability sample of California adults aged 18 and over. Data collection employed stratified random sampling with over-sampling in geographic areas with identified high risk-group populations. Augmented data collection was employed for three risk-groups: (1) gay-identifying men, (2) multiple/high-risk partner heterosexuals, and (3) recreational drug users. Interviews were conducted from September 30, 1988 through December 13, 1988. Data collected in this survey permit comparisons to the California Survey of AIDS Knowledge, Attitudes and Behavior, (KABB), conducted in 1987, which has been archived as Sociometrics AIDS/STI Data Archive Dataset 01. However, the population stratification design employed in 1987 differed from that utilized in 1988, and some differences in results between the surveys may be attributable to this variation in methodology. The 1988 data collection program had four major objectives: To increase the number of risk group cases on whom reliable survey data existed in order to facilitate more detailed analysis of attitudinal and behavioral trends; To assess change or continuity in the incidence and distribution of AIDS risk behaviors over the year between the 1987 KABB survey and the 1988 KABB survey; To assess change or continuity in knowledge levels and attitudes of high-risk individuals between the two surveys; To measure the effectiveness of recent educational initiatives in California, including the national household mailing conducted by the Surgeon General of the United States.

Cocaine Alternative Treatment Study (CATS), 1996-1999

Investigators: Arthur Margolin, Herbert D. Kleber, S. Kelly Avants, Janet Konefal, Frank Gawin, Elena Stark, James Sorensen, Eleanor Midkiff, Elizabeth Wells, T. Ron Jackson, Milton Bullock, Patricia D. Culliton, Sharon Boles, & Roger Vaughan

The study was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of auricular acupuncture as a treatment for cocaine addiction. The study was a randomized, controlled, single-blind clinical trial that lasted 8 weeks. The Cocaine Alternative Treatment Study (CATS), was conducted between 1996 and 1999 at six community-based clinics (3 hospital-affiliated clinics, 3 methadone maintenance programs) in the U.S. Treatments were offered 5 times a week for 8 weeks. Drug counseling sessions were offered alongside treatment sessions for patients in each treatment group. Patients were assessed at a screening interview, an intake interview, at each of the 40 treatment sessions offered, at a post-treatment assessment, and at 3-month and 6-month follow-ups.