Paper
Friday, July 15, 2005
Impact of an HIV Prevention Program on Female College Students' HIV Knowledge and Abstinence/Condom Attitudes
Sande Gracia Jones, PhD, ARNP, ACRN, CS, C, BC, FAAN1, Paula Delpech, MSN, RN1, Margaret Hamilton, DNS, RN1, Mary Louise Jorda, RN, MPH1, Robert Malow, PhD2, and Rebecca Ranallo, BS3. (1) School of Nursing, Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA, (2) School of Public Health, Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA, (3) School of Policy & Management, Criminal Justice, Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA
| Learning Objective #1: Discuss the purpose of the Office on Women's Health initiative, Prevention of HIV/AIDS/STDs Among Young Women Attending Minority Institutions |
| Learning Objective #2: Describe the impact of the SENORITAS project on female college students' HIV knowledge and abstinence attitudes |
Purpose: College students are at risk for HIV/STDs because of high sexual activity, low condom use, denial of risk, and factors such as normative beliefs and ethnicity/gender differences (Jemmott, Jemmott & Villarruel, 2002; Lewis, Malow & Ireland, 1997). SENORITAS (Student Education Needed In Order to Reduce Infection and Transmission of AIDS/HIV and STDs) is an innovative prevention program (Jones, 2004) funded by the Office on Women's Health through OWH's Prevention of HIV/AIDS/STDs among Young Women Attending Minority Institutions initiative. Study purpose was to determine the impact of attending an intensive single-session HIV prevention program on female college students' HIV knowledge and attitudes about abstinence and condom use. Method: Study design was based on Fisher & Fisher's (1994) Information- Motivation- Behavioral skills (IMB) model of AIDS-preventive behavior. Instruments used were Fisher, Fisher, Misovich and Bryan's (2002) HIV-related subscales; reported reliability with college students was 0.75 to 0.87 (Misovich, Fisher & Fisher, 1998). After IRB approval, students at a South Florida public minority university were recruited from campus sororities and organizations to attend the program. Students completed instruments at the start of the session, and repeated the knowledge subscale at the end of the session. Students were mailed post-program instruments eight weeks later. A total of 120 students attended the sessions. Forty-nine students returned completed instruments eight weeks post-program (41% response rate). Findings: There was a significant increase in mean knowledge scores pre-program to end of program (t =-8.406, df = 119, p=.01). Eight weeks later the knowledge increase remained (t=-2.346, df = 48, p = .023), and there was a significant increase in abstinence attitudes (t=-2.392, df = 48, p = .021) and a non-significant increase in condom attitudes. Discussion/conclusion: The program positively impacted on safer-sex attitudes and HIV knowledge, which may result in safer-sex practices for female college students.