This project will develop interventions to prevent behaviors of violence, unsafe sexual behaviors and substance use/abuse, among 10-13 year old African-American adolescents in poor neighborhoods in Chicago and its suburbs. The core intervention is a Classroom Risk Reduction Program (CRRP); a curriculum for grades 5-7 plus homework that involves parents. The Intensive Program (IRRP) consists of the classroom component, enhanced parental involvement, school staff training and other organizational changes, and a school health promotion task force to coordinate the above activities and forge links with the community. All intervention components will be developmentally and culturally appropriate and the curriculum will include elements on cultural values and pride. Intervention efficacy will be tested by randomly assigning 18 schools to receive either IRRP, CRRP, or a classroom enhancement program (CHEP). CHEP focuses on different health-related behaviors (nutrition, exercise) but otherwise is equivalent to CRRP. The """"""""treatments"""""""" are similar, but their content-- avoiding of health compromising behaviors vs. adoption of health-enhancing behaviors, differ, thus controlling for the """"""""Hawthorne Effect."""""""" Extensive process evaluation data will be collected to determine parti- cipation, satisfaction, and expectations concerning the intervention components by the target audiences. It is expected that both classroom curricula will be well-accepted, but there will be less unanimity about the more intensive intervention. The UIC Survey Research Laboratory will collect outcome and moderate variable data from students, parents, and school personnel, prior to the intervention and at the end of grades 5-8. It is expected that the more comprehensive intervention will be more effective, although at greater cost and with greater variation in the integrity of its implementation, and that the classroom curricula will have differential impacts on their targeted behaviors. Project staff will deliver most of the intervention components to one cohort of students (1993-94, grade 5) and their parents. Regular teachers will observe staff implementation, and be trained to do it. At the end of the project, additional training will be offered to insure project continuation.
