HIV/AIDS Education Program Targets California Youths

There are more effective ways to counter the spread of HIV/AIDS beyond simply preaching abstinence and safe sex, according to University of California-Los Angeles Regents lecturer Dr. Loretta Sweet Jemmott. Jemmott, director of the Center for Urban Health Research and a professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, came to UCLA on Oct. 17 and spoke to an audience of 50 about alternative research methods to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS.

While Jemmott acknowledges that it may be easy to lecture adolescents and young adults about the risks and prevention of the disease, it is a lot harder to make them practice what is preached. "There are a lot of things that get in the way of a person wanting to change their behavior," Jemmott said. "A person can have all the confidence and knowledge in the world, but there are a lot of barriers between this and putting on that condom."

Jemmott focuses on the social psychological factors of HIV risk-associated behavior. Her team of researchers have raised over $74 million in federal research grants and led a series of intervention programs that have developed culture-sensitive and age-appropriate strategies.

One of these is the program "Be Proud, Be Responsible: Strategies to Empower Youth to Reduce Their Risk for AIDS," selected by the CDC as its national model. The five-hour program is aimed at 13- to 18-year-olds and includes short exercises involving educational videos and films designed to trigger discussion, role-playing, condom demonstrations and other activities. It is currently being used in more than 26 states in schools, community-based organizations and clinical settings.

What Jemmott found was that, although parents, church and peers play an important role in influencing sexual beliefs, "all this goes out the window when you're kissing your partner," she said. This is vital to the structuring of programs, which were previously focusing solely on the individual, or individual and peer interaction.

Barriers to safer behavior include negative beliefs about safer sex practices, sporadic sexual behavior, and lack of communication. According to the American Association for World Health, 50 percent of adolescents have never talked to a partner about condoms or birth control, and more than half have never talked to a partner about HIV/AIDS or other STDS.

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