HIV PREVENTION IN A MULTICULTURAL CHILDREN'S SAMPLE

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This revised proposal describes the planned implementation of a set of theory-driven interventions whose goal is to provide a large, multi- cultural sample of elementary school children and their parents with valid and useful beliefs and information about the factors related to HIV infection and its avoidance. The children (and their parents), categorized on ethnicity and acculturation, will be investigated in a 3- year longitudinal study, with particular attention paid in later years of research to the oldest students to determine the impact of the prior instructional interventions on early adolescent at-risk sexual behavior. All students will receive in-class AIDS education over the course of the academic year. Concurrently, one-third of the sample will participate in a peer-health education program, and one third in a computer-assisted education program. Changes in students' AIDS-relevant attitudes and knowledge from pre- to post-treatment constitute one primary research focus. MANOVA will be the principal analytic method, given the multifactorial nature of the research design. For parents, children, and parents and children combined, effects of treatment type, acculturation, and their interaction will be examined for attitude, knowledge and behavior measures. The analytic technique will be supplemented by analysis of variance, multiple regression, and discriminant function analysis to provide the most sensitive and informative data treatment. In addition to students' performance, parental knowledge and attitudes will be monitored and compared with that of a very large untreated control sample. The relationship between parents' and their children's performance also will be investigated to help determine the effects of parental beliefs on those of their children. Moderating effects of acculturation level on all relationships will be studied to determine the impact of this variable on AIDS-related attitudes, knowledge, and actions for parents and, ultimately, their children. The study will be carried over three years. The research promises to provide important information regarding delivery of educational interventions that may influence HIV/AIDS-relevant knowledge and behavior of children, and their parents, at various levels of acculturation in mainstream American society.