Delaying Sexual Activity in African American Adolescent Girls

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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This study will evaluate the effectiveness of a program designed to prevent early sexual behavior in middle school-aged African American girls.

Detailed Description
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There are 34 million adolescents between the ages of 11 and 17 years old in the United States. Approximately 12% of them are African American. These youths experience earlier pubertal onset and face earlier challenges to participate in sexual activity, and therefore have earlier potential for pregnancy and contraction of sexually transmitted diseases. Experts in adolescent research have recommended developing and implementing new interventions to reduce early sexual activity; these interventions should target middle school-aged youths. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of the NIA intervention on intention to engage in early sexual behavior and actual involvement in early sexual behavior in a convenience sample of sixth and seventh grade African American girls. NIA is a Swahili word that means having a sense of purpose. It is one of the seven principles of Kwanzaa, a holiday that celebrates African Americans' cultural roots in Africa. The intervention was named after a self-development program for African American girls to highlight the intervention's cultural basis. The study will provide 12 weekly and 5 booster after school didactic sessions; these sessions will teach health promotion and decision making skills to help girls successfully avoid situations where sexual activity is invited. Mothers and daughters will collaborate on homework assignments on puberty, heterosexual relationships, and sexual issues. The study will provide an evening mother-daughter workshop on sexual responsibility and a Baby-Think-It-Over weekend experience for girls using a computerized doll. Finally, the study will provide five Hey Baby! role-play vignettes to teach girls how to avoid heterosexual relationships that may lead to sexual activity. The NIA intervention will be compared against a usual after-school activity control group of sixth and seventh grade African American girls in two public middle schools in the Pittsburgh Public School system. Participants will be randomly assigned to either the NIA intervention group or the control group. Each participant will be in the study for 1 year. There will be a 12-week main intervention in the fall, a 5-week booster in the spring, and final testing 1 year after study entry. Assessments will be primarily paper and pencil tests of the study's main outcome variables: attitude toward early sexual behavior (ESB); subjective norms (mother, father, peer) toward ESB; intention to engage in ESB; and self-reported ESB. Additionally, there will be knowledge content quizzes after each main intervention or booster session and a written evaluation of the Baby-Think-It-Over weekend.

Official Title
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A Randomized Controlled Trial of the NIA Intervention

Conditions
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Adolescent Behavior, Sex Behavior

Intervention / Treatment
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* Behavioral: NIA intervention (after school health promotion didactic program)


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria African American 11 to 14.3 years old Exclusion Criteria Participation in similar programs, such as Best Friends or Postponing Sexual Involvement Classification in school as a special education student Anorexia, bulimia, or chronic or acute reproductive health disease Prior or current pregnancy Prior participation in the community NIA girls' program

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 11 Years
Maximum Age: 14 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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Female

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Prevention
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Single


Arms and Interventions

| Intervention/Treatment |
| --- |
|Behavioral: NIA intervention (after school health promotion didactic program)|nan|

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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Prevention of early sexual behavior, NIA intervention