Dating Violence and HIV Prevention in Girls: Adapting Mental Health Interventions

描述(由申请者提供)：本申请旨在申请以患者为导向的研究职业发展奖(K23)，这将使Rizzo博士能够继续发展她在高危少女中预防艾滋病毒和约会暴力方面的项目研究。越来越多的研究表明，约会暴力在青春期女孩感染艾滋病毒的风险中扮演着重要角色。DV与避孕套使用较少、首次性交年龄较小、有多个性伴侣和性行为前饮酒有关。因此，针对约会暴力和艾滋病毒风险的预防战略可能有望减少特别高危人群中的性风险行为。在这项拟议的研究计划中，将开发和测试一种基于认知行为的干预措施，命名为“青少年在关系中管理攻击的技能”(SMART)。该计划将在服务不足的青少年样本中实施，因为已发现经济劣势和少数群体地位与青少年约会暴力发生率上升有关。干预的主要重点将是解决心理健康问题(即心理困扰和行为失调)，这些问题是青春期女孩发展和维持约会暴力和性危险行为的基础。Rizzo博士的培训目标是：(1)增加她在进行艾滋病毒预防干预方面的专门知识，(2)接受关于青少年艾滋病毒风险的强化临床和研究培训，(3)获得与遭受约会暴力的少女进行研究并为其提供临床治疗的专门知识，(4)提高她在针对少数民族和经济弱势群体的干预研究方面的技能，(5)发展R01级预防研究方法和统计技能，以及(6)接受关于专业发展问题的指导。这些培训目标将通过正式的课程和研讨会、集中的临床和研究经验以及导师团队成员持续密切的研究监督相结合来实现。这一K奖的培训计划将提供必要的机会，以研究预防性干预对弱势青年妇女群体的影响。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This application is to request a Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award (K23) that will enable Dr. Rizzo to continue to develop her programmatic line of research in the prevention of HIV and dating violence among high risk adolescent girls. A growing body of research reveals that dating violence plays a significant role in adolescent girls' HIV risk. DV has been associated with less condom use, younger age at first intercourse, having multiple sex partners and alcohol use prior to sexual encounters. Thus, prevention strategies that address dating violence and HIV risk may hold promise for reducing sexual risk behavior among a particularly at-risk population. In this proposed research plan, a cognitive-behaviorally based intervention to be named "Skills to Manage Aggression in Relationships for Teens" (SMART) will be developed and tested. The program will be implemented with a sample of underserved youth, as economic disadvantage and minority status have been found to be related to increased rates of adolescent dating violence. A primary focus of the intervention will be to address mental health problems (i.e. psychological distress and behavioral dysregulation) that underlie the development and maintenance of both dating violence and sexual risk behavior among adolescent girls. Dr. Rizzo's training goals are to (1) increase her expertise in conducting preventive interventions for HIV, (2) receive intensive clinical and research training in adolescent HIV risk, (3) acquire expertise in conducting research with, and providing clinical treatment for, adolescent girls exposed to dating violence, (4) advance her skills in intervention research with ethnic minority and economically disadvantaged populations, (5) develop R01 -level skills in prevention research methodology and statistics and (6) receive mentorship regarding professional development issues. These training goals will be achieved through a combination of formal coursework and seminars, focused clinical and research experiences, and ongoing close research supervision by members of the mentorship team. The training plan of this K-Award will provide the opportunities needed to research the effects of a preventive intervention for a vulnerable group of young women.