Randomized Control Trial of Family-Based HIV Prevention for Latinos (Latino STYLE)

• Change in sexual activity status [ Time Frame: baseline and 3, 6, 12, and 18 months post-intervention ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  

• Change in Unprotected Sex Acts [ Time Frame: baseline and 3, 6, 12, and 18 months post-intervention ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  change in the number of incidences of unprotected vaginal or anal intercourse
  
  
• Change in intentions to use condoms [ Time Frame: baseline and 3, 6, 12, and 18 months post-intervention ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  
• Change in parent-adolescent communication [ Time Frame: baseline and 3, 6, 12, and 18 months post-intervention ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  
• change in parental monitoring of adolescent [ Time Frame: baseline and 3, 6, 12, and 18 months post-intervention ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  

Latinos are disproportionately represented among those diagnosed with HIV and Latino adolescents are at risk for engaging in sexual behaviors that can lead to HIV. To date, data regarding HIV prevention interventions for Latino adolescents, as distinct from other ethnic groups, have been rare. Thus, an efficacious HIV prevention intervention is urgently needed for Latino adolescents. The current proposal is aimed at filling that gap by evaluating a newly developed family-based intervention that incorporates cultural constructs into the Social-Personal Framework.

This R01 builds on the Principal Investigator's NIMH-funded K Award, which piloted a culturally-specific family-based intervention with 80 Latino parent-adolescent dyads and demonstrates promising results. Extending this work, 320 Latino parent-adolescent dyads with an adolescent between the ages of 14 and 17 will be randomized into either the family based HIV prevention intervention or a family-based general health promotion control condition. In both conditions, the interventions will use a multi-family group format consisting of 6 to 8 parent and youth dyads in a one-day, 7-hour workshop. Both interventions employ activities for youth and parents separately (e.g., focus on adolescent vulnerability) and parents and adolescents together (e.g., address parent/adolescent communication). The project will determine the efficacy of the Latino Family-based HIV prevention intervention from assessment of changes in the adolescents' HIV-related sexual behavior and attitudes, gender and sexual socialization, parent-child communication, and parental monitoring. Measures will be completed at baseline and at 3, 6, 12, and 18 months post-intervention.

HIV/AIDS is a significant problem in the Latino community. Developing culturally sensitive HIV prevention interventions for Latino youth, in particular, is a public health priority. Family-based interventions are likely to be well received by the Latino population. Therefore, this project will examine the efficacy of a family-based HIV prevention intervention for Latino youth and parents to decrease the incidence of HIV among Latinos. Its innovation is in being one of the first to work with Latinos specifically in a family-based intervention where parents and adolescents come together to discuss important sexuality-related topics.