The Principal Investigator proposes the development of an interactive multimedia program, Sexuality, AIDS, and Family Education Tool for Youth (SAFETY). It is designed for use in high schools to improve students' HIV/AIDS-related knowledge, behavioral changes, and motivation. The program's features offer significant advantages over video, group, and lecture programs. SAFETY presents tailored, personally-relevant information in an engaging dramatic format. It is designed to address the risk in HIV among adolescents and to assist schools in reducing risk among students. The program combines advances in tailoring health interventions and risk reduction strategies with multimedia technologies to develop an individualized intervention. Parental, teach, and/or counselor involvement is encouraged. If such a program demonstrated effectiveness in reducing high-risk behaviors over traditional lecture and video approaches, school administrators and health educators would likely view it as a desirable way to offer meaningful HIV/ AIDS information to high school students in a cost-effective manner. In Phase I the researchers will identify, describe, and outline 25-35 Enhanced Frequently Asked Questions (E-FAQ's) on HIV/AIDS, develop a prototype of the computer interface and content of one E-FAQ, and produce and test a demonstration CD-ROM. In Phase II they will complete the program and a field test to demonstrate the efficacy and product satisfaction.
Potential commercial application not available.
