Journal of Pediatric Psychology Advance Access originally published online on February 1, 2006
Journal of Pediatric Psychology 2006 31(9):905-916; doi:10.1093/jpepsy/jsj100
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Community Collaborative Youth-Focused HIV/AIDS Prevention in South Africa and Trinidad: Preliminary Findings
1 University of Illinois at Chicago, 2 Human Sciences Research Council, 3 University of KwaZulu-Natal, 4 Mount Sinai Hospital, 5 University of Chicago, and 6 Family Planning Association of Trinidad and Tobago
All correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Donna R. Baptiste, Department of Psychiatry, Institute for Juvenile Research, University of Illinois at Chicago, 1747 West Roosevelt Road, Chicago, Illinois 60608. E-mail: dbaptiste{at}psych.uic.edu.
Received September 14, 2004; revision received May 2, 2005, October 27, 2005, and January 3, 2006; accepted January 3, 2006
Background South Africa and Trinidad and Tobago are disproportionately impacted by high rates of HIV/AIDS among adolescents. Objective The article describes the HIV crises in these countries; outlines a community participatory research framework to adapt and deliver family-based prevention; and presents preliminary data from intervention pilots in each setting. Methods Adapted interventions were piloted with N = 140 families in South Africa and N=16 families in Trinidad and Tobago to refine recruitment and retention efforts and to assess the adapted interventions impact on family and risk-related constructs. Results Both settings reported promising results including high recruitment and retention and favourable pre to post changes in parent/youth frequency and comfort in talking about sensitive subjects, HIV transmission knowledge and attitudes about persons with HIV/AIDS. Conclusion International HIV-prevention alliances are increasing. Such alliances are challenged by trust issues, power-differentials and ideological differences. Recommendations are provided on how some challenges can be overcome.
Key words: adolescent HIV/AIDS; community collaboration; international HIV/AIDS prevention; South Africa; Trinidad and Tobago.