Interactive CD-ROM for HIV Risk Negotiation

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The purpose of this project is to develop and evaluate an interactive CD-ROM designed to provide young women with training and practice in negotiating sexual interactions. This CD-ROM environment will allow users the opportunity to anonymously explore their options and be better equipped to make informed decisions in their own lives. This product will present users with simulated scenarios of sexual interactions and allow the user to make choices to determine the outcomes of the scenarios. The content will be developed based on constructs from cognitive theories applied to HIV prevention as well as interviews with young women. Young women are at increasing risk of contracting the HIV virus due to their physiological makeup as well as their lack of knowledge and skills regarding initiating and negotiating safer sex practices. This product will be designed to provide the knowledge and skills for young women to safely and effectively negotiate their sexual interactions to reduce their risk of HIV/STD transmission as well as unintended pregnancies. For Phase I, we will develop an interactive CD-ROM that will guide users through a created sexual interaction scenario using human actors/animated characters and simulated sound and movement. The scripting of the scenario and alternate storylines will be built upon theoretical constructs applied to HIV prevention that will be further refined based on focus group and individual interviews conducted with young women (n = 12) between the ages of 18 and 24. We will then test the prototype in a feasibility trial (n = 45) where subjects (females between the ages of 18 and 24) will be asked to use the product for a minimum of one hour. Measures of usability, satisfaction, and perceptions of self-efficacy (as measured by the SRSE scale) will be taken at pre and post-test.