College student sexual health educators comment on their participation in an arts-based intervention for high school students: A qualitative analysis

Sexual health interventions often focus on social cognitive and behavioral health outcomes for participants; however, effects may also be observed among those who deliver the intervention. This paper documents the impact of an arts-based sexual health program on the college students who deliver the intervention. AMP! is a multisite trial of an arts-based sexual health intervention that relies, in part, on a Sex(Ed) Squad (SES) to disseminate information about sexual health to high school students. The SESs are groups of college students at each site who create performance pieces on sexual health for local high schools. Focus group discussions with SES members from each AMP! site (N=45) were conducted before beginning the program and again following the creation of the sexual health performance piece. Semi-structured focus group guides focused on the ways in which SES participation affected members' knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors regarding sexual health. Discussions were recorded, professionally transcribed and analyzed using Atlas.ti. Results indicate increased sexual health knowledge, more favorable attitudes toward HIV testing, and increased sexual health communication among SES members. Participants also described increased confidence in their ability to effectively communicate sexual health information in their personal lives. Through involvement in the AMP! program SES members became opinion leaders to their friends, families and sexual partners regarding matters of sexual health. Beyond the effects of the AMP! program on high school students, this study shows promising results for training popular opinion leaders who can be agents for sexual health communication in their social and sexual networks.