Computer-Assisted HIV Prevention for Young Drug Users
Adolescents and young adults who use drugs are at high risk for infection with HIV, STDs and other diseases with similar transmission dynamics. Although several age-appropriate and effective HIV, STD and disease prevention efforts have been identified for young substance abusers, most interventions have been narrow in focus and are generally not structured to readily address changing patterns of drug use among adolescents.
In this project, an interactive, computer-assisted HIV, STD and disease prevention program for young substance abusers that incorporates effective components of both prevention science and educational technologies is being developed with input from the target population of youth. The program is customizable for use by various sub-populations of youth based on their profile of risk factors.
A randomized, controlled trial will be conducted to evaluate the benefit of including this program in HIV and disease prevention efforts with youth in substance abuse treatment. In so doing, we will evaluate the ability of the program to promote accurate knowledge about HIV and other diseases, promote self-efficacy to reduce risk behavior and change actual rates of risk behavior among young substance abusers in both of these settings.