142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

Annual Meeting Recordings are now available for purchase

302482
Effects of a mass media HIV-risk reduction strategy on HIV-related stigma and knowledge among African-American adolescents

142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition (November 15 - November 19, 2014): http://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual
Monday, November 17, 2014

Jelani Kerr, PhD , Department of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY
Robert Valois, MS, PhD, MPH, FAAHB
Ralph J. DiClemente, PhD , Department of Behavioral Sciences and Health Education, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory Univeristy, Atlanta, GA
Faith Fletcher, PhD , Community Health Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health, Chicago, IL
Peter Vanable, PhD
Michael Carey, PhD , Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Brown University, PROVIDENCE, RI
Larry K. Brown, MD , Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry/Bradley Hasbro Research Center, Brown University Medical School/Rhode Island Hospital, Providence, RI
Naomi Farber, Ph.D., M.S.W., ACSW
Daniel Romer, PhD
Background:  HIV-related stigma reduces HIV-prevention behaviors, testing, and optimal treatment behavior.  African-Americans demonstrate greater HIV-related stigma than other races/ethnicities.  Given the elevated HIV- prevalence of African-Americans, identifying effective stigma reduction strategies has implications for national testing and prevention goals among this group.  This study examines the the effectiveness of a culturally-tailored media (radio and television) HIV-risk reduction intervention in reducing HIV-related stigma.

Methods: A total of 1613 African-American adolescents (age 14-17) from four mid-sized cities in the Northeastern and Southeastern US participated in a randomized control trial to determine the impact of media in reducing HIV risk behavior.  Two cities (one Northeastern and one Southeastern) received the media intervention.  Participants completed audio computer assisted self-interviews at baseline, 3, 6 and 12 months to determine HIV-related stigma and HIV-related knowledge differences. Analysis of variance determined stigma and knowledge differences at each measurement interval.  Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) determined stigma and knowledge differences over the entire study.   

Results: Mean stigma scores decreased over time while knowledge increased.  There were no stigma differences at baseline but there were significant differences between intervention and control cities at three months (p<0.05).   These differences diminished by 6-months.  HLM did not detect stigma differences.  Conversely, there were no significant knowledge differences between the experimental groups at any measurement interval, but HLM indicates greater knowledge scores for the intervention group over the entire study (p<0.05).

Conclusions: A coordinated media strategy to reduce HIV risk behavior demonstrated short term benefit in reducing stigma and longer-term benefit in increasing knowledge.

Learning Areas:

Conduct evaluation related to programs, research, and other areas of practice
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Public health or related research

Learning Objectives:
Evaluate the effectiveness of a mass-media intervention to reduce HIV risk behavior on HIV-related stigma and knowledge.

Keyword(s): African American, HIV Interventions

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have published and been a co-investigator on multiple projects examining HIV-related stigma among people of African descent in North America. I have also conducted research on developing approaches to address HIV-related stigma in these populations.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.