The proposed study is designed to build upon and extend prior work in Oakland junior high schools in which we developed and implemented in AIDS prevention curriculum taught by terms of trained ninth grade peer educators to seventh graders. This program had a significant impact on AIDS-related knowledge, beliefs, and social norms, and resulted in the delayed onset of sexual behaviors among sexually inexperienced students. In the next 5 years, we propose; . to test this successful model in an older, more sexually active, target population, and . to assess the impact on the peer educators of going through the training process. The first part of the project will be a quasi-experimental prospective study designed to target sexual norms, time perspective (from present to future orientation), self-efficacy, and AIDS risk behaviors. The intervention will be delivered as part of the science curriculum by ninth grade peer educators who are enrolled in a one semester elective course in peer helping. The study sites are four matched junior high schools in Oakland, CA: two assigned to participate in the intervention and two to serve as controls. All ninth grade target students in the two intervention schools will receive a six session basic sex and AIDS education curriculum taught by an adult health educator, followed by eight sessions of interactive activities delivered by volunteer peer educators. Ninth grade target students will be re-assessed in tenth grade. The second part of this proposal has a controlled randomized design and focuses on the effects of participation in the peer helping class on peer educators. Ninth grade students who have volunteered to be peer educators will be randomly assigned to either the peer helping class or to a control group. The impact of class participation on key peer educator characteristics (individuation, shyness, status as opinion leaders), HIV- related outcomes (attitudes, perceived norms, and risk behaviors), and personal benefits (academic performance, self-esteem, career plans, and time perspective) will be measured initially as well as in tenth grade. To successfully complete this project, we have obtained community support and assembled the necessary team of organizations and individuals. The study design will allow us to assess both the process of becoming a peer educator as well as the process of being a student of peer educators as interventions. The study also affords us the opportunity to attempt to identify the critical variables that make AIDS peer education effective and acceptable in inner city junior high schools.
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