Study Details

The program's evidence of effectiveness was first established in a randomized controlled trial involving low-income African American adolescents recruited from a community-based health center in the southern United States. Study participants were randomly assigned to either a treatment group that received the program or a control group that participated in a one-session program on HIV-AIDS education. Surveys were administered immediately before random assignment (baseline), immediately after the intervention, and 6 and 12 months after the intervention ended.

The study found that, averaged across the three follow-up surveys, adolescents who were assigned to the treatment group reported statistically significantly fewer occasions of unprotected oral and anal intercourse and more occasions of condom-protected intercourse. The study found no statistically significant program impacts measures of the number of sexual partners, number of occasions of unprotected vaginal intercourse, or number of occasions of condom-protected anal intercourse. For the 12-month follow-up survey, the study found that for subgroups of youth defined by sexual activity at baseline, those in the treatment group were statistically significantly less likely to have had sex in the past two months.

The study also examined program impacts on the percentage of intercourse occasions that were unprotected. Findings for this outcome were not considered for the review because they did not meet the review evidence standards. Specifically, the outcome was measured for a subgroup of youth defined by sexual activity at follow up.

The study also examined program impacts on measures of condom attitudes, AIDS knowledge, self-efficacy, assertion skills, and substance use. Findings for these outcomes were not considered for the review because the outcomes fell outside the scope of the review.