302482
Effects of a mass media HIV-risk reduction strategy on HIV-related stigma and knowledge among African-American adolescents
Methods: A total of 1613 African-American adolescents (age 14-17) from four mid-sized cities in the Northeastern and Southeastern US participated in a randomized control trial to determine the impact of media in reducing HIV risk behavior. Two cities (one Northeastern and one Southeastern) received the media intervention. Participants completed audio computer assisted self-interviews at baseline, 3, 6 and 12 months to determine HIV-related stigma and HIV-related knowledge differences. Analysis of variance determined stigma and knowledge differences at each measurement interval. Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) determined stigma and knowledge differences over the entire study.
Results: Mean stigma scores decreased over time while knowledge increased. There were no stigma differences at baseline but there were significant differences between intervention and control cities at three months (p<0.05). These differences diminished by 6-months. HLM did not detect stigma differences. Conversely, there were no significant knowledge differences between the experimental groups at any measurement interval, but HLM indicates greater knowledge scores for the intervention group over the entire study (p<0.05).
Conclusions: A coordinated media strategy to reduce HIV risk behavior demonstrated short term benefit in reducing stigma and longer-term benefit in increasing knowledge.
Learning Areas:
Conduct evaluation related to programs, research, and other areas of practicePlanning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Public health or related research
Learning Objectives:
Evaluate the effectiveness of a mass-media intervention to reduce HIV risk behavior on HIV-related stigma and knowledge.
Keyword(s): African American, HIV Interventions
Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have published and been a co-investigator on multiple projects examining HIV-related stigma among people of African descent in North America. I have also conducted research on developing approaches to address HIV-related stigma in these populations.
Any relevant financial relationships? No
I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.