Untitled Social Cognitive AIDS Intervention

OVERVIEW

The Untitled Social Cognitive AIDS Intervention is a program that is designed to increase confidence in using and ability to use condoms during sexual intercourse. Adolescent females are taught different ways to discuss the topic with their partners and reasons for using condoms and avoiding AIDS/STDs. Results of this evaluation showed that the participants in the social cognitive intervention had a significantly higher intention to use condoms and greater confidence in using condoms than the participants in the control group.

DESCRIPTION OF PROGRAM

Target population: Inner-city, black adolescent females.

The Social Cognitive AIDS Intervention is designed to increase confidence in ability to use condoms and reduce concerns about the impact of condoms on sexual enjoyment. The participants receive a 105-minute intervention over two days in which culturally and developmentally appropriate exercises, games, and a video are used to teach and increase active participation. One exercise is based on explaining the facts and myths surrounding AIDS. Another exercise is a discussion of partners taking responsibility for safe sex. Possible excuses to avoid condoms are discussed, along with counterarguments to those excuses. Participants practiced putting condoms on a banana and engaged in role playing exercises to practice interactions with a partner. Abstinence is mentioned; however, the program has an emphasis on condom use to prevent sexually transmitted infection. The sessions are led by a female facilitator.

EVALUATION(S) OF PROGRAM

Jemmott, J. B., Jemmott, L. S., Spears, H., Hewitt, N., & Cruz-Collins, M. (1992). Self-efficacy, hedonistic expectancies, and condom-use intentions among inner-city black adolescent women: A social cognitive approach to AIDS risk behavior. Journal of Adolescent Health, 13, 512-519.

Evaluated population: Nineteen sexually active African-American adolescent females from a low-income inner-city community in New Jersey. Their ages ranged from 15 to 21 years and their parents had an average of 12 years of schooling. Seventy-nine percent of the participants were Baptist. The mean age of first sexual intercourse was 15.8 years, and 22% reported using a condom during their last sexual intercourse experience.

Approach: The participants were recruited from a waiting room in a family clinic and randomly assigned to a Social Cognitive (SC) group, Information-alone (IA) group, and a General health promotion (GH) group. Participants in the IA group participated in exercises designed to increase knowledge about AIDS. The GH group received information about reducing health risks through diet and exercise. Participants discussed favorite foods, activities, and facts and myths about health. The GH group and IA groups met for the same amount of time, for the same number of days as the SC group. After the 105-minute intervention (which took place over two days), all participants received the GH group for the final two days.

Participants were assessed on Risky sexual behavior, intention to use condoms, perceived self-efficacy to use condoms, outcome expectancies regarding condom use, knowledge about AIDS and STDs, and attitudes towards health behaviors.

Results: The SC group had a significantly higher intention to use condoms (a large effect size of 1.23) when compared with the IA and GH groups. The SC group also had a significantly higher confidence in using condoms (a large effect size of 1.12) and higher pleasure expectancies (a large effect size of 1.38) when compared with the IA and GH groups. There was no significant difference between the SC group and IA group on prevention outcome expectancies regarding condom use. Both the SC and IA groups scored significantly higher on AIDS knowledge than the GH group but did not significantly differ on AIDS knowledge.

SOURCES FOR MORE INFORMATION

References

Program categorized in this guide according to the following:

Evaluated participant ages: 15-21

Program components: Clinic/provider-based

Measured outcomes: Teen Pregnancy and Reproductive Health

KEYWORDS: Adolescents (12-17), Youth, Young Adults, High School, Female, Black/African American, Clinic-based, Urban, STD/HIV/AIDS, Condom use and Contraception, Self-Efficacy, Nutrition

Program information last updated 2/12/10

		© Child Trends 2003