Longitudinal study of a school based HIV/AIDS early prevention program for Mexican adolescents.

A quasi-experimental study is reported with four measurement occasions to evaluate longer-term effects of a life-skills and HIV/AIDS school-based prevention program. Trained teachers administered the program promoting precursors of safer sex behavior to 2064 Mexican high-school students at an age before most were sexually active. The variables included in the study (knowledge about HIV/AIDS prevention, attitudes towards use of condoms, subjective norms, intentions to use condoms and life skills as decision-making skills, partner communication and individual responsibility) have been reported as precursors of protective sexual behavior.

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

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.

Sexuality and life skills education. A multistrategy intervention in Mexico.

This contribution presents a set of intervention programs in the area of reproductive health, sexuality, and life-skills education that are now widely used in Mexico and with Latin American populations elsewhere. First, the authors briefly indicate how a research-informed approach has been central to the development and implementation of these interventions. Thereafter they describe how the programs were initially designed, taking into consideration the Mexican cultural context and its implications for Mexican adolescents.