Juvenile offenders are at risk for HIV due to high rates of risk behaviors including inconsistent condom use, numerous sexual partners, early sexual debut, and frequent substance abuse. Furthermore, emotional reactivity, distress, and/or psychiatric disorders, which are common among drug-using juvenile offenders, appear to interfere with using skills acquired in standard HIV prevention programs. This highlights the need for interventions to address non-cognitive factors such as Affect Management to regulate emotions during situations involving alcohol, drugs, and sex in order to reduce HIV risk behavior. This project will be a unique collaboration between an experienced adolescent HIV prevention research team and the Rhode Island Juvenile Drug Court to adapt a promising Affect Management intervention for use with drug-using juvenile offenders. Adaptation of an existing Affect Management intervention (developed for adolescents with psychiatric disorders) will be guided by the Social Personal Framework. Focus groups, structured interviews, and expert panel reviews will guide its adaptation. After the intervention is adapted for juvenile offenders, a preliminary randomized control trial of the Affect Management intervention in comparison to an attention-only control (general health promotion intervention) will be conducted with 80 juvenile offenders. An estimate of the efficacy of the Affect Management intervention in reducing HIV risk will be determined by an increase in self-reported condom use, a decrease in substance use by self-report and random drug screen (via the Juvenile Drug Court), improved emotion regulation skills, and differences in HIV-related attitudes, including receptivity to free HIV testing offered through the study. This study will partner with the Juvenile Drug Court to produce a unique intervention that incorporates Affect Management with more traditional skills approaches and to inform the development of a larger study of HIV prevention with drug-abusing juvenile offenders. ? ? ?
| Tolou-Shams, Marina; Houck, Christopher D; Nugent, Nicole et al. (2012) Alcohol Use and HIV Risk among Juvenile Drug Court Offenders. J Soc Work Pract Addict 12:178-188 |
| Tolou-Shams, Marina; Hadley, Wendy; Conrad, Selby M et al. (2012) The Role of Family Affect in Juvenile Drug Court Offenders' Substance Use and HIV Risk. J Child Fam Stud 21:449-456 |
| Tolou-Shams, Marina; Houck, Christopher; Conrad, Selby M et al. (2011) HIV prevention for juvenile drug court offenders: a randomized controlled trial focusing on affect management. J Correct Health Care 17:226-32 |
