Extension of the Aban Aya Youth Project (AAYP) will extend the development and efficacy trial of interventions to prevent the health-compromising behaviors of violence, unsafe sexual behaviors (including HIV infection), and substance use, plus associated mediating variables (knowledge, attitudes, social normative beliefs, social skills, self efficacy, intentions) among 10-17 year old African-American adolescents in disadvantaged neighborhoods of Chicago & suburbs. The project, currently funded by the Office for Research on Minority Health through NICHHD, targets grades 5-7; the proposed project will extend the interventions to grades 8-10 and data collection to grades 8-11. Intervention efficacy is experimentally tested by randomly assigning 12 schools to receive either a Social Development Curriculum (SDC), an intensive School/Community Program (S/CP), or a control condition (a Health Enhancement Curriculum [HEC]). The SDC includes information on the risks of the targeted behaviors, decision-making. social competence, resistance skills, conflict resolution, and normative beliefs, plus homework that involves parents. The curriculum is classroom-based for grades 5-8; for grades 9 & 10, we propose five all-day Saturday workshops each year. The S/CP consists of the classroom/Saturday component plus enhanced parental involvement, peer mentoring, school staff training and other organizational changes, and a Local School Health Promotion Task Force to coordinate the above activities and also to forge links with the community. All intervention components are developmentally and culturally appropriate, and the curriculum will include elements on cultural values and pride. At grades 8-10, the program will also include components to improve the transition to high school and to prevent school drop-out. The HEC focusses on different health-related behaviors (e.g., nutrition, physical activity), but is equivalent to the SDC in all other ways. Project staff will deliver the intervention components. Each year, we will also train teachers and other community-based organization staff in program delivery to ensure ongoing implementation of the program. We collect extensive process evaluation data to determine the levels of acceptance (participation and satisfaction) and expectations of the intervention components by the target audience(s) (students, parents, school personnel). We also collect extensive outcome and mediator variable data from students, parents and school personnel prior to the intervention, and at the end of grades 5-11 (grades 8-11 on this grant).
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