Safe Choices to Prevent HIV/AIDS in Afro-Caribbean American Youth

描述(由申请者提供)：K01指导研究科学家发展奖寻求资金，以支持为非裔加勒比裔美国青年制定艾滋病毒/艾滋病干预研究计划的广泛、长期目标。拟议研究和相关培训活动的具体目的是：1)增进预防艾滋病毒/艾滋病的知识，重点是母女关系；2)获得适当研究方法方面的专门知识，包括设计和测试艾滋病毒/艾滋病预防干预措施的社区参与性研究；3)扩大对适合用于干预措施设计的统计数据的了解；4)建立和维持与信仰社区的关系，以此作为持续研究的基础；5)制定和提交独立的外部资助研究补助金。培训活动将通过提供指导、学术培训、实践经验和咨询来补充研究目标。这项提议与健康有关，因为非洲裔加勒比裔美国青年面临包括艾滋病毒/艾滋病在内的性传播疾病的风险。安全选择干预强调节欲，但也教会了他们如何在决定性行为活跃的情况下做出负责任的决定。通过这种方式，青少年可以消除性传播艾滋病毒/艾滋病的风险。教堂一直是许多加勒比海家庭的强大影响力来源，研究人员在改变性行为方面一直没有充分利用教堂。这一描述性-比较研究设计将从现有有效的干预措施中开发和测试基于教会的、理论驱动的和特定于文化的干预措施。这项研究将采用以社区为基础的参与式方法，使用方便的样本。将进行两个不同的重点小组(10名母亲和10名女儿)，以获得特定文化的信息，这些信息将被用来调整现有的干预措施。在《法案》阶段，将实施量身定制的干预措施，并对可行性和可接受性进行评估。这项研究的前提是综合利用定量和定性方法确定风险行为的特定文化决定因素，以产生可直接应用于实践的知识，并制定一项研究方案，重点是将安全选择作为减少艾滋病毒/艾滋病的一种手段。未来研究的目标是为非洲裔加勒比裔美国人确定和实施适合文化的艾滋病毒/艾滋病干预战略。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This K01 mentored research scientist development award seeks funding to support the broad, long term objective of developing a program of research in HIV/AIDS intervention for Afro-Caribbean American youth. The specific aims of the proposed study and related training activities are: 1) to advance knowledge regarding HIV/AIDS prevention focusing on mother-daughter relationships; 2) to gain expertise in appropriate research approaches including community-based participatory research for designing and testing an HIV/AIDS prevention intervention; 3) to expand understanding of statistics appropriate for use with intervention designs ; 4) to establish and maintain relationships with faith-based communities as a foundation for ongoing research; and 5) to develop and submit an independent externally-funded research grant. Training activities will complement the research objectives by providing mentoring, academic training, practical experience, and consultation. This proposal is health-related because Afro-Caribbean American youth are at risk for sexually transmitted disease including HIV/AIDS. The safe choice intervention emphasizes abstinence but also teaches them how to make responsible decisions should they decide to be sexually active. In this way, adolescents can eliminate the risks for sexually-transmitted HIV/AIDS. Churches have been a powerful source of influence for many Caribbean families and have been underutilized by researchers to effect changes in sexual behavior. This descriptive-comparative research design will develop and test a church-based, theory-driven, and culture-specific intervention from an existing intervention that works. The study will utilize a community based participatory approach using convenience samples. Two separate focus groups (10 mothers and 10 daughters) will be conducted to gain culture-specific information which will be used to tailor the existing intervention. In the "Act" phase, the tailored intervention will be implemented and feasibility and acceptability will be evaluated. The premise of the study is to identify culture-specific determinants of risk behaviors comprehensively using quantitative and qualitative methods to generate knowledge that can be directly applied to practice and develop a program of research focusing on safe choice as a means of HIV/AIDS reduction. The goal for future research is to identify and implement culturally-appropriate HIV/AIDS intervention strategies for Afro-Caribbean Americans.