Communication as a protective factor: evaluation of a life skills HIV/AIDS prevention program for Mexican elementary-school students

AIDS Educ Prev. 2007 Oct;19(5):408-21. doi: 10.1521/aeap.2007.19.5.408.

Abstract

Literature suggests that communication is a protective factor against high-risk sexual behavior. This study assessed the impact of a fourth-grade communication-centered life skills program on attitudes, norms, self-efficacy, behaviors, and intentions toward communication about difficult subjects. Participants included 1,581 low-income Mexican elementary-school children, divided into experimental and control groups. Teachers were trained to replicate the program as part of the school curriculum over 15 to 20 weeks. Students completed self-report questionnaires before and after the program. Multilevel analyses demonstrated the program's statistically significant positive impact on communication about attitudes, self-efficacy, intentions, and behavior; perception of sociocultural norms regarding communication transformed as a result of the program. Gender significantly predicted differences in communication: with respect to attitudes, self-efficacy, and intentions. The results show that early intervention programs targeting communication about difficult subjects can prevent risky sexual behavior and its consequences (e.g., HIV/AIDS) and influence perception of norms and gender roles.

Publication types

  • Randomized Controlled Trial

MeSH terms

  • Attitude to Health / ethnology*
  • Child
  • Child Behavior / ethnology
  • Child Behavior / psychology
  • Communication*
  • Female
  • HIV Infections / ethnology
  • HIV Infections / prevention & control*
  • Health Education / methods*
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Mexico / epidemiology
  • Poverty / ethnology
  • Program Evaluation
  • Regression Analysis
  • School Health Services*
  • Self Efficacy*
  • Sex Factors
  • Sexual Behavior / ethnology
  • Sexual Behavior / psychology
  • Social Conformity
  • Social Values / ethnology
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Taboo / psychology