Performing for prevention: Assessing the feasibility of an arts-based HIV prevention approach for adolescents in the US south

The face of HIV in the United States has changed. Youth ages 13-29 are a particularly high-risk group, accounting for 39% of new HIV infections in 2009. In the Southern states, which include Georgia (GA) and North Carolina (NC), the 2010 rate of HIV diagnoses was nearly 29% higher than the national average. Findings from the CDC's Youth Risk Behavior Survey (2011) indicate that teens from this region engage in more risky sexual behavior on average than adolescents nationally. Many lack accurate knowledge about disease transmission, condom use and basic preventive skills to delay initiation of sexual activity.

These statistics warrant intensified efforts to target HIV education and prevention towards adolescents in the South. AMP! (Arts-based, Multiple intervention, Peer-education) is a sexual health education and HIV prevention approach developed in Los Angeles. AMP! provides young people with crucial information and prevention strategies in a novel way – through school-based performances developed by undergraduate students trained in HIV, health education, and interactive theater. Performances, which amplify school health curricula content, are based on undergraduates' lived experiences and attuned to adolescent needs and realities. We conducted a pilot study to examine the feasibility of adapting AMP! for school districts in NC and GA.

Results from focus groups and surveys conducted with high school participants and in depth interviews with high school health teachers highlight the successes and challenges of adapting AMP! for a southern context. Presenters will address implications for future research to advance arts-based HIV interventions for adolescents in the South.