Reducing HIV Risk Among Adolescents

描述（由申请人提供）：职业目标：我致力于作为一个研究科学家在心理学和公共卫生的交叉工作的职业生涯。我的目标是为基础社会科学和预防计划做出贡献，以改善青少年的性健康，减少性传播疾病（STD）的发病率，包括艾滋病毒/艾滋病。职业发展：这条独立之路奖将提高我的方法和统计技能，并提供我需要的具体培训，从对导致艾滋病毒/性病传播的危险性行为的预测因素进行研究过渡到为青少年设计和实施有效的艾滋病毒/性病预防计划。在指导培训阶段，我的目标是：1）掌握进行以学校为基础的性健康研究的方法策略; 2）熟练掌握分析多波纵向数据所需的高级统计学; 3）获得设计和实施有效的性健康干预所需的技能;以及4）发展技能，专业知识和试点数据，以促进我从一个指导博士后研究员成功转变为一个完全独立的研究科学家。研究项目：在美国，15-24岁的青年占有性经验人口的25%，但他们感染的性病却占所有性病的50%。这导致该群体中每年有900多万性病和8 300例艾滋病毒新诊断病例，十几岁的女孩比男孩感染的风险更大。当前项目的目标是更全面地了解性交流的方式，性交流被定义为讨论性健康话题的能力，如避孕套的使用，艾滋病毒/性病和禁欲，可以减少青少年中无保护的性行为。然后，利用这一更新的理解，我将把性沟通技能培训纳入一个创新的，基于计算机的青春期女孩艾滋病毒/性病预防计划。该项目的目标将通过以下三个具体目标实现：1）随着时间的推移，检查青少年的性交流和安全套的使用情况; 2）开发一种互动的、基于计算机的干预措施，以提高少女的性交流技能; 3）在一项随机对照试验中评估性交流干预措施的可行性和初步疗效。导师制：来自查佩尔山的北卡罗来纳州大学的一个高度成就的多学科专家团队将在这个奖项的最初两年指导我，并在我开始独立职业生涯时提供持续的指导和支持。该指导团队包括两名主要导师：Mitch Prinstein博士（心理学系）和Carol Golin博士（公共卫生学院，艾滋病研究中心），以及一个杰出的科学咨询委员会：丹尼尔鲍尔博士（心理学系），Seth Noar博士（新闻与大众传播学院）和Jane Brown博士（新闻与大众传播学院）。未来方向：该提案所获得的技能和丰富的初步数据将直接支持未来的R 01申请，以进行性交流干预的全面临床试验。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Career Goal: I am committed to a career as a research scientist working at the intersection of psychology and public health. My goal is to contribute to both basic social science and prevention programs that improve adolescent sexual health and reduce the incidence of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), including HIV/AIDS. Career Development: This Pathway to Independence Award will enhance my methodological and statistical skills and provide the specific training that I need to transition from conducting research on the predictors of risky sexual behaviors that lead to HIV/STD transmission to designing and implementing effective HIV/STD prevention programs for adolescents. During the mentored training phase, my goals are to: 1) master methodological strategies for conducting school-based sexual health research; 2) gain proficiency in the advanced statistics needed to analyze multi-wave longitudinal data; 3) gain the skills necessary to design and implement an effective sexual health intervention; and 4) develop the skills, expertise, and pilot data to facilitate my successful transition from a mentored postdoctoral fellow into a fully independent research scientist. Research Project: In the U.S., youth between the ages of 15-24 years represent 25% of the sexually experienced population, yet they acquire a full 50% of all STDs. This results in over 9 million STDs and 8,300 newly diagnosed cases of HIV each year in this group, with teen girls at greater risk of infection than boys. The goal of the current project is t gain a more comprehensive understanding of the way that sexual communication, defined as the ability to discuss sexual health topics, such as condom use, HIV/STDs, and abstinence, may reduce acts of unprotected sex among teens. Then, using this updated understanding, I will incorporate sexual communication skills training into an innovative, computer-based HIV/STD prevention program for adolescent girls. The project objectives will be achieved through the following three Specific Aims: 1) examine adolescent sexual communication and condom use over time; 2) develop an interactive, computer-based intervention to increase adolescent girls' sexual communication skills; and 3) assess the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of the sexual communication intervention in a randomized controlled trial. Mentorship: A highly accomplished, multidisciplinary team of experts from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will mentor me in the initial two years of this award and provide ongoing guidance and support as I launch my independent career. This mentoring team includes two primary mentors: Dr. Mitch Prinstein (Department of Psychology) and Dr. Carol Golin (School of Public Health, Center for AIDS Research), and an outstanding scientific advisory committee: Dr. Daniel Bauer (Department of Psychology), Dr. Seth Noar (School of Journalism and Mass Communication), and Dr. Jane Brown (School of Journalism and Mass Communication). Future Directions: The skills achieved and the rich preliminary data from this proposal will directly support a future R01 application to conduct a full clinical trial of the sexual communication intervention.