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Comprehensive Elementary School AIDS
Education
Research Method:
Intervention Research
Principal Investigators:
David J. Schonfeld, M.D., Yale University (PI), Jean J. Schensul,
Ph.D. (Co-PI), Mary Schwab-Stone, M.D., Yale University (Co-PI)
Grant:
Maternal and Child Health Bureau;
The William T. Grant Foundation
Partners:
Yale University School of Medicine, Yale University Child
Study Center
Dates of Study:
1998-2003
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Abstract
The Comprehensive Elementary School AIDS Education project addresses
gaps in current preadolescent and adolescent AIDS education
by offering a comprehensive approach to HIV/AIDS prevention
for elementary and middle school aged children of diverse ethnic
backgrounds. Past research indicates that it is more effective
to either delay the age of initiation of sexual intercourse
and/or prevent the adoption of unsafe practices than to intervene
once patterns of sexual activity are established among adolescents;
early sexual activity rarely is followed by abstinence. An effective
HIV/AIDS prevention program for teens and young adults must
therefore begin before they become sexually active, i.e., in
during their elementary school years. The Elementary AIDS Education
project tests such a program in New Haven, CT public elementary
schools through a comprehensive risk prevention curriculum based
on social cognitive and social influence theories and through
the training and use of peer educators. The AIDS prevention
curriculum is embedded in the district-wide social development
program, and tested in a randomized group of students from 5th
to 7th grade (N = approx. 1,500). The project includes a process
evaluation component that looks at treatment administration,
integrity and acceptability, and the prevention impact of the
peer-education component on peer-educators and students. |
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Project
Goals and Objectives
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Investigate the impact
of a comprehensive elementary AIDS education curriculum
on risk behavior and key variables that influence
risk (e.g., perceptions of vulnerability, fears
about AIDS, peer sexual norms, and perceived self-efficacy). |
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Evaluate the impact of
the intervention and training program on peer educators
recruited from the middle schools. |
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Assess the implementation
of the project through a process evaluation that
looks at treatment administration, integrity and
acceptability, and the effects of the peer education
component. |
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Project
Details
Teachers from schools selected
for intervention were trained in the curriculum
and assisted in the classroom by facilitators from
the district's social development office. Project
staff based at Yale University were in charge of
the main project activities: curriculum development,
training of teachers and social development facilitators,
and training and support of peer educators. ICR
staff coordinated the process evaluation. Implementation
of the intervention was completed in Spring 2002,
and process evaluators are completing data analysis.
Collection of data for the process evaluation included
interviews of teachers, social development staff,
and peer educators. Staff also conducted observations
of various project activities: teacher and facilitator
training, classroom implementation, meetings between
project staff, peer educator trainings, and peer
educators in the classroom. The evaluation also
included documentation of changes and adaptations
in the curriculum, in teacher training, and in the
peer education component throughout the lifetime
of the project. |
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Project Contact:
Jean
J. Schensul, Ph.D.,
Co-Principal Investigator
Executive Director
Susanne
Fest, Ed.D.
Research Associate
Project Staff:
ICR
Jean J. Schensul, Ph.D.,
Co-Principal Investigator
Susanne Fest, Ed.D., Research Associate
Yale University
David J. Schonfeld, M.D., Principal Investigator
Kim Freudigman, Ph.D., Project Coordinator
Mary Schwab-Stone, M.D., Co-Principal Investigator
Domenic Chicchetti, Ph.D., Co-Investigator
Mickey Kavanagh, M.S.,
Co-Investigator
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Link
to Research Methods page
Link
to Intervention Research Methods page
External Links:
Yale
University School of Medicine
Yale University
Child Study Center
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| Publications
and Presentations
Schonfeld D: Children's understanding of HIV/AIDS
and School-based Education. St. Mary's Hospital, Paediatric
Grand Rounds, July 5, 1999, London, England.
Schonfeld D: Children's Perceptions of AIDS.
Invited Interdisciplinary Seminar, Göteborg University
and Östra University Hospital, August 27, 1997, Göteborg,
Sweden.
Schonfeld D: Children and HIV. Invited seminar
sponsored by Leeds Metropolitan University, Faculty of Health
and Social Care and Leeds City Council, HIV, Sexual Health
and Drugs Unit, Leeds Civic Hall, July 4, 1997, Leeds, England.
"AIDS prevention education for elementary
school children" - October 26, 2000 Workshop presented
with Mickey Kavanagh for the State Department of Education,
CT
"Children's developmental understanding
of HIV and AIDS" - September 21, 1999 National Consultants
Meeting on Integrating HIV, other STD, and Teen Pregnancy
Prevention Programs, Atlanta, GA
"HIV Prevention Education with Elementary
School-Age Children" - October 20, 1998 Hartford HIV
Forum, sponsored by the HIV Action Initiative and the Institute
for Community Research St Francis Hospital, Hartford, CT
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