Reducing HIV Risk Among Adolescents: Evaluating Project HEART

Not Applicable

Completed

Conditions: HIV
Sexually Transmitted Diseases

Interventions: Behavioral: Growth Mindsets
Behavioral: Safer Sex

Registration Number: NCT02579135

Lead Sponsor: North Carolina State University

Brief Summary: This study evaluates an educational web-based intervention designed to increase adolescent girls' motivation and skills to engage in safer sexual behavior (Project HEART: Health Education and Relationship Training). Half of participants will receive Project HEART and half of participants will receive Project Growing Minds, an attention-matched control website focused on growth mindsets of intelligence and self-regulation. The ultimate goal of this work is to help girls reduce their risk of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases and to avoid unplanned pregnancies.

Detailed Description: This study evaluates an educational web-based intervention designed to increase adolescent girls' motivation and skills to engage in safer sexual behavior (Project HEART: Health Education and Relationship Training). Half of participants will receive Project HEART and half of participants will receive Project Growing Minds, an attention-matched control website focused on growth mindsets of intelligence and self-regulation. The ultimate goal of this work is to help girls reduce their risk of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases and to avoid unplanned pregnancies.

Primary outcomes for this study include 1) acceptability of the program, 2) communication self-efficacy, and 3) communication intentions.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status: COMPLETED

Sex: Female

Target Recruitment: 222

Inclusion Criteria

10th grade girl
Able to read English

Exclusion Criteria

None

Study & Design

Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL

Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Control: Project Growing Minds	Growth Mindsets	Attention-matched control website with five modules to address an introduction to mindsets, growth mindsets of intelligence, growth mindsets of self-control, growth mindsets of people, and an integrative summary. Program takes approximately 30-45 minutes to complete.
Project HEART	Safer Sex	Interactive website with five modules to address safer sex motivation, knowledge, attitudes/norms, self-efficacy, and sexual communication skills. Program takes approximately 30-45 minutes to complete.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
7-item Self-report of Sexual Communication Self-efficacy	Immediate post-test at completion of intervention and 3-month follow-up	We used the validated Self-Efficacy for HIV Prevention Scale to assess communication self-efficacy. Seven items assessed confidence communicating about sexual topics (e.g., "How sure are you that you could talk to your partner about safer sex?"). Participants responded from 1 for "couldn't do it" to 4 for "very sure." Scores were averaged with higher scores indicating greater confidence in communicating about sex (alpha = 0.82).
3-item Self-report of Sexual Communication Intentions Over Next 3 Months	Immediate post-test at completion of intervention and 3-month follow-up	We assessed intentions to communicate about sex with items from the AIDS Risk Behavior Assessment. Three items captured the likelihood of communicating with a partner in the next 3 months about (1) sexual limits and boundaries, (2) STDs and pregnancy, and (3) condom use. Options ranged from 0% to 100% to indicate the likelihood of communicating with a partner. We averaged scores to create a composite (possible range 0-100); higher scores indicated greater likelihood of sexual communication (alpha = 0.84).
6-item Self-report of Program Acceptability	Immediate post-test at completion of intervention	Program acceptability was assessed through a questionnaire that was adapted from prior acceptability surveys. Specifically, six items were included to assess six aspects of acceptability: (i) an intent to return to the website, (ii) whether one would recommend the program to a friend, (iii) whether one would use information from the program in the future, (iv) how much one liked the program, (v) how much one learned from the program and (vi) how much one felt the program kept their attention. The first three questions were coded with dichotomous response options (yes/no-unsure), whereas the last three items used a four point Likert-type scale ranging from 1=not at all to 4=a lot. For analyses, these last 3 items were dichotomized into 1=a lot and 0=not a lot.