Schools Championing Safe South Africa: An Intervention Engaging Teachers and Students in Adolescent Prevention of HIV risk and Intimate Partner Violence

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PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Adolescence presents an ideal developmental transition period for an integrated intervention targeting preven- tion of HIV risk behaviors and intimate partner violence (IPV) including sexual violence. Adolescent boys in particular, are at high risk for HIV and perpetration of IPV. Yet, few behavioral interventions integrate HIV-IPV prevention and are tailored for the unique developmental needs of adolescent boys. Educational environments play a vital role in shaping behavioral choices among adolescent boys. Specifically, teachers and student peers serve as agents of change for adolescent boys’ HIV and IPV prevention needs in four important ways. First, teachers and student peers influence community norms for appropriate adolescent male behaviors relating to dating, relationships, and sexual violence within the school ecology. Second, teachers and student peers have persistent contact with adolescents and thus, can play an influential role in adolescents’ lives as role models for healthy norms. Third, teachers and student peers substantively motivate and reinforce protective behaviors re- lating to prevention of HIV and IPV. Fourth, teachers are ideally prepared to deliver age- and developmentally- tailored preventive interventions to adolescents because they are professionally trained to engage with adoles- cents in age and developmentally appropriate teaching. Despite the important role of teachers and student peers in promoting the health of adolescents, there are currently no HIV-IPV interventions in global priority settings for these epidemics that target teachers and student peers in school environments. In this study, we will develop and then investigate the acceptability and feasibility of Schools Championing Safe South Africa, an integrated HIV-IPV intervention where teachers and student peers engage adolescent boys in a developmentally-tailored approach to prevent adolescent HIV risk behavior and IPV using a social norms approach. We work in South Africa, a country with the largest HIV epidemic and some of the highest rates of IPV in the world. We propose the following specific aims: (1) Development aim – Gather behavioral and social norms data from teachers and students (aiming for 75% of students) relating to student-level prevention of HIV and IPV in 3 schools to inform the social norms campaign content for Schools Championing Safe South Africa; (2) Refinement aim – Refine content for the social norms poster campaign and other intervention components using n=5-10 interviews with teachers and k=3-6 focus groups with students in School #1 (poster campaign refinement school); and (3) Ac- ceptability and feasibility aim – Conduct a randomized controlled pilot trial of the social norms campaign com- paring School #2 (experimental intervention school) versus School #3 (wait list control school) with 1- and 6- month follow-up to measure change among students at high risk for sexual risk behavior and IPV perpetration (e.g., adolescent boys 15-17 years), and to assess the acceptability and feasibility of the intervention for a future fully-powered efficacy trial. Findings will advance preventive intervention science for young people at elevated risk for HIV and IPV in a global priority setting for HIV and violence prevention.