Horizons

OVERVIEW

Horizons is an STD/HIV prevention program for sexually active, African American, female adolescents. It includes two group sessions, follow-up phone calls, and vouchers for STD screening and treatment of adolescents’ partners. Positive impacts were found through 12-month follow-up for Chlamydia infections, condom use, STD/HIV prevention knowledge, communication with partners about safe sex, and condom use self-efficacy, but there was no impact on gonorrhea or trichomoniasis infections.

DESCRIPTION OF PROGRAM

Target population: African American adolescent females seeking sexual health services

Horizons is an STD/HIV prevention program that consists of three components: two 4-hour group STD/HIV prevention session, $20 vouchers for participants to give to their male sexual partners for STD screening and treatment, and four brief phone contacts to reinforce the information presented in the sessions. The group sessions are conducted one week apart and are facilitated by female, African American health educators. The sessions are based in social cognitive theory, the theory of gender and power, and established interventions for adolescent females seeking sexual health services. The sessions are interactive and encourage cultural and gender pride. They also focus on various factors that contribute to STD/HIV risk, including individual, relational, sociocultural, and structural factors. The phone calls are about 15 minutes in length and are done three to four weeks and ten to twelve weeks after baseline, and three to four weeks and ten to twelve weeks after the six-month follow-up.

The program package can be purchased for $285 from Sociometrics: http://www.socio.com/passt29.php

EVALUATION(S) OF PROGRAM

Evaluated population: Participants were 715 African American females between 15 and 21 years old who were recruited from three clinics in downtown Atlanta that provide sexual health services to a population that is predominantly inner-city adolescents. In order to participate, adolescents could not be married, pregnant, or trying to become pregnant, and they must have reported vaginal intercourse in the previous 60 days. On average, participants were 18 years old, and at baseline they had an average of nine lifetime sexual partners, and 46 percent had an STD.

Approach: Participants were randomly assigned to receive the intervention or to a control condition of enhanced usual care. The control condition involved a culturally and gender appropriate one-hour group session facilitated by a female, African American health educator. The sessions included an STD/HIV prevention video, a question and answer session, and group discussion.

Data were collected at baseline, six-month follow-up, and twelve-month follow-up on Chlamydia, gonorrhea, and trichomoniasis infections; condom use, lifetime sexual partners, frequency of douching (which may increase vulnerability to STDs), knowledge of STD/HIV prevention, condom use self-efficacy, and frequency of communication with male partners about safer sex.

Results: Over the twelve-month period following the intervention, there was a positive impact on Chlamydia infections, condom use, douching, partner communication frequency, condom use self-efficacy, and knowledge of STD/HIV prevention. There was no impact on gonorrhea or trichomoniasis infections. A subgroup analysis by STD status found that participants who had an STD and were in the intervention condition were more likely to notify their partners of their STD status and have them get treated compared with those in the control condition.

SOURCES FOR MORE INFORMATION

References

DiClemente, R.J., Wingood, G.M., Rose, E.S., Sales, J.M., Lang, D.L., Caliendo, A.M., Hardin, J.W., & Crosby, R.A. (2009). Efficacy of sexual transmitted disease/human immunodeficiency virus sexual risk-reduction intervention for African American adolescent females seeking sexual health services. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 163(12), 1112-1121.

KEYWORDS: Adolescents (12-17), Youth (16+), Young Adults (18-24), Female Only, Black/African American, Urban, Clinic/Provider-based, Manual, Cost, STD/HIV/AIDS, Condom Use and Contraception

Program information last updated on 7/14/11.

© Child Trends 2003