HIP HOP for HIV awareness: An innovative approach to community level HIV prevention, capitalizing on hip hop culture as a motivator for bolstering HIV testing among youth

The objective is to determine the effectiveness of the HIP HOP for HIV Awareness intervention, an innovative model utilizing an exchange of an HIV test for a hip hop concert ticket, in a metropolitan city among African American youth and young adults. Some intervention participants (38.4% of 6972 participants, n=2675) experienced standardized testing, sex education, and pre/post test administration. Data were analyzed to identify changes in knowledge and attitudes of HIV/STD pre/post the educational session. When analyzing the data, knowledge was assessed individually, revealing variance among participants (F=26.34, p≤0.0001). Level of education (F=2.97, p=0.01) and gender (F=8.83, p=0.003) were each significant as a second factor with knowledge. Two 3-level significant interactions emerged: knowledge, education, and gender (F=4.30, p=0.0007) and knowledge, education, and race/ethnicity (F=1.77, p=0.03). In conclusion, program findings suggest an increase in knowledge and improved self-perceptions related to attitudes is the result of a brief, HIV-focused community based intervention.