Family/Media Approach to HIV Prevention:
Results with a Home-Based, Parent-Teen Video Program
OVERVIEW
This program was designed to teach parents and teens about HIV, AIDS, and other STDs, to improve communication skills between parents and their teens and to improve teens' strategies for avoiding and managing high-risk situations by exposure to educational videos in the home. The authors note that school-based programs are often less explicit in nature and do not allow direct interaction between parents and teens, while a home-based video program allows families to interact and learn together at a degree of explicitness that feels right to them. The program was administered to families with 12- to 14-year-old boys and girls, who were not at high risk for HIV infection. Forty-five families were randomly assigned to either the experimental or control group. The authors found that following the 120-minute, four-video program, both parents and teens in the experimental group increased their knowledge of HIV, AIDS, and STDs and their family problem-solving skills.
DESCRIPTION OF PROGRAM
Target population: Families with 12- to
14-year-old boys and girls in
A multi-video program lasting around 2 hours was administered to families with teens aged 12-14. The videos focus on the rationale for the program, fact-based information about AIDS transmission and prevention, family problem solving, teen problem solving, teen assertiveness, and practice scenarios.
Later implementations of this program include a workbook that compliments the material presented in the tapes. All versions of this program strongly encourage families to re-watch certain tapes for additional practice on the techniques taught.
EVALUATION(S) OF PROGRAM
Winett, R.A., Anderson, E.A., Moore, J.F., Sikkema, K.J., Hook, R.J., Webster, D.A., Taylor, C.D., Dalton, J.E., Ollendick, T.H., and Eisler, R.M. (1992). Family/Media Approach to HIV Prevention: Results with a Home-Based, Parent-Teen Video Program. Health Psychology, 11(3), 203-206.
Evaluated population: Participants included 49 families with 12- to 14-year-old teens. Eligible families were recruited through letters sent out by their family physicians, and parties that expressed interest received a phone call and an informational packet.
Approach: 151 families were initially contacted, and 73 agreed to participate in the study. These families were then stratified by family composition, age and sex of teens, and parent education before 49 families were randomly selected to participate.
Families received a double-blind, at-home pretest. Parents in the experimental group families were given a 120-minute, four-video program and instructed to screen the tapes first, then view them with their adolescent in several screenings. After the program, the participants were tested again, but the nature of the post-viewing questionnaires and the video retrieval procedures made a double-blind procedure impossible. The participants, however, were tested by the same assessment team. Of the 49 families randomly assigned, 45 completed a follow-up six months after the intervention. A 94 percent completion rate was attained.
Results: Parents and teens in the experimental group were found to have greater increases in their knowledge scores and family problem-solving ratings, as compared to members of the control group. These results were maintained at the six month follow-up.
Winett, R.A.,
Evaluated Populations: Participants included 70 families with 12- to 14-year-old teens. Eligible families were recruited through letters sent out by their family physicians, and parties that expressed interest received an informational packet.
Approach: 600 families were initially contacted, and 146 agreed to participate in the study. These families were then stratified by family composition, age and sex of teens, and parent education before 70 families were randomly selected to participate.
Families were randomly assigned to either a skills-training intervention group or an information only control group. Both groups received an in-home pretest. Parents in the skills training group watched a 135-minute, two-tape video program. The first tape focused on program rationale, current facts and information on AIDS and family problem solving. A 16 page workbook supplemented this tape. The second tape focused on teen assertiveness and teen problem solving skills and was presented in an MTV-type format.
Those families in the information only control group viewed a 40-minute, two-tape program that did not include as detailed instruction, demonstration or practice on family and teen problem solving compared with the intervention group. Both groups completed an in-home posttest about two weeks after the initial pretest. About three months following the study, "booster workbooks" were sent to all families, with a different format going to the intervention and control groups. A month later, a final in-home follow-up assessment was completed by all participating families.
Results: This program found overall positive results in increasing parent and teen knowledge of HIV, knowledge of problem solving skills and assertiveness, and the use of family problem solving skills. Both the intervention and control groups increased their HIV-related knowledge during the course of the study. Additionally, only families in the skills-training intervention improved in assessments of problem solving and assertiveness, and family problem solving.
Among teens, participants in both groups increased in assertiveness at the posttest, and maintained that through the follow-up. Although some gains were seen in teen problem solving at the posttest, no differences were seen between groups regarding teen problem solving by the time of the follow-up assessment.
SOURCES FOR MORE INFORMATION
References
Winett, R.A., Anderson, E.A., Moore, J.F., Sikkema, K.J., Hook, R.J., Webster, D.A., Taylor, C.D., Dalton, J.E., Ollendick, T.H., and Eisler, R.M. (1992). Family/Media Approach to HIV Prevention: Results with a Home-Based, Parent-Teen Video Program. Health Psychology, 11(3), 203-206.
Winett, R.A.,
Program categorized in this guide according to the following:
Evaluated participant ages: 12-14
Program components: school-based
Measured outcomes: social and emotional health and development; life skills; teen pregnancy and reproductive health
KEYWORDS: Reproductive Health, STD/HIV/AIDS, Social/Emotional Health and Development, Risky Sex, Home-Based, Adolescence (12-17), Life Skills Training, Teen Pregnancy.
Program information last updated 11/4/08.
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