Digital Sexual Health Interventions for Young People

Routledge eBooks · 2023 · 1 citations

• Sociology
• Computer Science
• Psychology

Arts-based, Multiple-component, Peer-education (AMP!) is a sexual health promotion and HIV-prevention intervention that uses a theatrical approach to deliver sexual health education. AMP!’s interactive theatre approach features scenarios created by college students who base their skits on their own real-life experiences. The students (the Sex Squad) deliver a live performance to ninth-grade students to supplement the standard public school sexual health curriculum. They also conduct workshops using strategies from the Theatre of the Oppressed model to enable youth to engage in a “rehearsal for real life,” providing opportunities to direct the dialog and actions of stage characters and model alternative behaviors. A digital mode of the intervention was piloted and evaluated to assess a potential means of reaching more people. This chapter reports on those results and compares outcomes between the live and digital modes of the intervention, ultimately revealing a promising approach for delivering sexual health education to adolescents.

With a Camera and a Tape Recorder

2022-11-10

Through Positive Eyes is a photo-storytelling project co-created by the photographer Gideon Mendel and the University of California, Los Angeles, Art & Global Health Center. The unique feature of the project is that it emanates directly from the creativity of people living with HIV and AIDS in a dozen major cities around the world, thus embodying their “positive” perspectives on the world. In addition to tracing the history of the project and describing its methods, this essay argues that the effectiveness of Through Positive Eyes photo-stories is tied to the processes of identification that are central to film theory, specifically that the photo-stories meaningfully embody the “face-to-face encounter” theorized by Franco-Lithuanian philosopher Emmanuel Levinas. This insight has major implications for public health and arts activism together, drawing on the entanglements one human being has with another in order to shift the stigma associated with HIV and AIDS.

Aprendiendo de La Vida (Learning from Life): Development of a Radionovela to Promote Preventive Health Care Utilization among Indigenous Farmworkers from Mexico Living in California

Journal of Medical Humanities · 2021 · 2 citations

• Gerontology
• Nursing
• Medicine

AMP!: A Cross-site Analysis of the Effects of a Theater-based Intervention on Adolescent Awareness, Attitudes, and Knowledge about HIV

UNC Libraries · 2020-04-22

AMP! (Arts-based, Multiple component, Peer-education) is an HIV intervention developed for high school adolescents. AMP! uses interactive theater-based scenarios developed by trained college undergraduates to deliver messages addressing HIV/STI prevention strategies, healthy relationships, and stigma reduction towards people living with HIV/AIDS. We used a pre-test/post-test, control group study design to simultaneously assess intervention effect on ninth grade students in an urban county in California (N = 159) and a suburban county in North Carolina (N = 317). In each location, the control group received standard health education curricula delivered by teachers; the intervention group received AMP! in addition to standard health education curricula. Structural equation modeling was used to determine intervention effects. The post-test sample was 46% male, 90% self-identified as heterosexual, 32% reported receiving free or reduced lunch, and 49% White. Structural models indicated that participation in AMP! predicted higher scores on HIV knowledge (p = .05), HIV awareness (p = .01), and HIV attitudes (p = .05) at the post-test. Latent means comparison analyses revealed post-test scores were significantly higher than pre-test scores on HIV knowledge (p = .001), HIV awareness (p = .001), and HIV attitudes (p = .001). Further analyses indicated that scores rose for both groups, but the post-test scores of intervention participants were significantly higher than controls (HIV knowledge (p = .01), HIV awareness (p = .01), and HIV attitudes (p = .05)). Thus, AMP!’s theater-based approach shows promise for addressing multiple adolescent risk factors and attitudes concerning HIV in school settings.

A Qualitative Evaluation of Impact and Implementation of a Theater-Based Sexual Health Intervention in Los Angeles High Schools

American Journal of Sexuality Education · 2019-03-28 · 3 citations

Although theater-based interventions have emerged as an innovative health education platform, more research is needed to understand how these interventions work and to identify factors that make them successful and replicable in adolescent populations. This paper discusses the first research project conducted on High School Sex Squads (HSSS), which use monologues, skits, songs, dance, spoken word, and other forms of performance art to approach broad topics related to sex, sexuality, and gender. Using focus groups with students and key informant interviews with adult stakeholders, this pilot study explores HSSS with a dual focus on program implementation and impact on High School Sex Squad members. These findings will be translated to real-life program improvement to ensure optimal implementation as the program continues to expand.

Live or Virtual? Comparing Two Versions of AMP!, A Theater-Based Sexual Health Intervention for Adolescents

American Journal of Sexuality Education · 2019-04-09 · 7 citations

Theater-based approaches have been implemented globally as a health education and behavior change strategy for decades. Studies have shown that live theater performances can engage an audience and influence the knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of audience members. Moreover, literature has shown that adolescents find theater-based interventions to be more acceptable and memorable than traditional didactic teaching methods. Few studies, however, have compared the effect of different intervention delivery modes on adolescents’ sexual health knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs. The present study aims to fill this gap in the literature and to evaluate the efficacy of two delivery modes (live and virtual) of a theater-based sexual health intervention for promoting sexual health strategies among adolescents. A total of 300 high school students were included in this study. Participants in both the live and virtual modes reported increased HIV knowledge and improved safe sex self-efficacy, suggesting that the live and virtual modes have comparable impact. Given the low cost and resource demands, these findings support the utilization of a virtual program as a promising practice for disseminating a sexual health intervention targeting adolescents on a large scale.

Sexual Health Transformation Among College Student Educators in an Arts-Based HIV Prevention Intervention: A Qualitative Cross-Site Analysis

American Journal of Sexuality Education · 2017-04-04 · 9 citations

We examined the sexual health change process experienced by 26 college student sexual health educators from three geographic regions of the United States who participated in a multisite arts-based sexual health prevention program. We conducted eight focus groups and used a phenomenological approach to analyze data. We drew from social cognitive theory (SCT) to examine how sexual health knowledge, attitudes, self-efficacy, and communication shifted across the duration of participation. Findings suggest that the college student sexual health educators (a) developed enhanced sexual health awareness and critical consciousness, (b) questioned their own sexual health education and challenged previous beliefs, and (c) demonstrated self-efficacy related to intended behavior change and their perceived role as social justice advocates. We present both similarities and differences regarding the sexual health change process among the college student sexual health educators across the three sites.

A Critical Review of the Characteristics of Theater-Based HIV Prevention Interventions for Adolescents in School Settings

Health Promotion Practice · 2016-04-19 · 19 citations

Theater-based interventions are a viable prevention strategy for changing sexual health knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors related to HIV prevention. However, few studies have explored interventions in English-speaking, high-income countries such as the United States, Canada, or the United Kingdom. This article critically reviews the literature to identify key characteristics of theater-based HIV prevention strategies used for adolescents in school-settings in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Specifically, we identify the theatrical approach used in HIV prevention interventions, the behavioral theories that inform such interventions, and the study design and results of existing evaluation studies conducted in school settings. In the 10 articles reviewed, we found limited grounding in theory and the use of nonrigorous study design. To strengthen the evidence and practical application of theater-based HIV prevention interventions, we highlight three specific recommendations for practitioners and researchers: (1) define and operationalize the theater approach and techniques used, (2) ensure theater-based interventions are grounded in theory, and (3) conduct rigorous evaluation of theater-based interventions. These recommendations are key to strengthening future research on and implementation of theater-based interventions for HIV prevention.

Sex Squad: engaging humour to reinvigorate sexual health education

Sex Education · 2016-01-18 · 11 citations

The Sex Squad is a collective of US-based college students, who create and perform monologues, scenes and musical parodies for ninth graders (ranging in age from 13 to 15). The Sex Squad is the central element in the AMP! programme for adolescent sexual health, developed at the University of California – Los Angeles in collaboration with the HIV/AIDS Prevention Unit of the Los Angeles Unified School District. In this case study, grounded primarily in arts-based approaches to sexual health, we, the founders, draw on our own experiences with, and critical reflections on, Sex Squad to make a case for including humour in sexual health education. In particular, we are committed to investigating how the arts can radicalise sexual health education, to increase its effectiveness, but also to reinforce sex as a valuable and pleasurable aspect of the human experience.

AMP!: A Cross-site Analysis of the Effects of a Theater-based Intervention on Adolescent Awareness, Attitudes, and Knowledge about HIV

Prevention Science · 2016-04-08 · 24 citations