A School-Based Approach to HIV Prevention for Inner-City African-American and Hispanic Adolescent Females

Abstract

This study examined the efficacy of a school-based HIVIAIDS prevention intervention for African-American and Hispanic adolescent females. Participants, 60 high school freshmen enrolled in an inner-city parochial high school, were randomly assigned to either HIVIAIDS prevention or attention-placebo womanhood interventions. Significant ethnic differences were found, with African- American adolescents reporting notably higher levels of sexual assertiveness and comfort discussing AIDS preventivc behaviors, as compared to Hispanic adolesccnt females. Further, both African-American and Hispanic participants who received the HIV/AIDS prevention intervention increased their knowledge of AIDS, more so than participants in the attention-placebo condition. These findings highlight the importance of culture in the design of relevant and sensitive HIV/AIDS prevention interventions for ethnic minority youth.