The Effects of a Computer-Based Pregnancy, STD, and HIV Prevention Intervention: A Nine-School Trial

Abstract

A computer-based intervention was designed to change perceived threat, perceived efficacy, attitudes, and knowledge regarding pregnancy, STD, and HIV prevention in rural adolescents. The intervention, which was guided largely by the extended parallel process model (Witte, 1992 Witte, K. 1992. Putting the fear back into fear appeals: The extended parallel process model. Communication Monographs, 59: 329–349. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), was implemented and evaluated in nine rural high schools using an institutional cycle pretest–posttest control-group design (Campbell & Stanley, 1963 Campbell, D. T. and Stanley, J. C. 1963. Experimental and quasi-experimental designs for research, Boston: Houghton Mifflin. [Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]; Cook & Campbell, 1979 Cook, T. and Campbell, D. 1979. Quasi-experimentation: Design and analysis issues for field settings, Boston: Houghton Mifflin. [Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]). Eight-hundred eighty-seven ninth-graders completed the survey at both points in time. Process evaluation results indicated that the intervention was implemented as intended, and that over 91% of students in the treatment group completed at least one of the six computer-based activities (M = 3.46, SD = 1.44 for those doing at least one activity). Two-way mixed-model repeated-measures analysis of variance revealed that students in the treatment group outperformed students in the control group on knowledge, condom self-efficacy, attitude toward waiting to have sex, and perceived susceptibility to HIV. These results suggest that computer-based programs may be a cost-effective and easily replicable means of providing teens with basic information and skills necessary to prevent pregnancy, STDs, and HIV.