Adapting Evidence-Based Interventions to Meet the Needs of Adolescents Growing Up with HIV in South Africa: The VUKA Case Example.

The VUKA family program is one of the only evidence-based interventions to promote positive psychosocial outcomes in South African HIV-infected pre- and early adolescents and their families. In this paper, we discuss the collaborative process by which a multidisciplinary team of clinicians, researchers, counselors, and artists/educators and families adapted and developed VUKA for this population using community-based participatory research methods. We describe the intervention and explore lessons learned that may be applicable across contexts related to international collaboration and adapting evidence-based interventions so that they are likely to be acceptable, feasible, and effective in a given setting and country context.

The development and implementation of theory-driven programs capable of addressing poverty-impacted children's health, mental health, and prevention needs: CHAMP and CHAMP+, evidence-informed, family-based interventions to address HIV risk and care.

This article describes a program of prevention and intervention research conducted by the CHAMP (Collaborative HIV prevention and Adolescent Mental health Project; McKay & Paikoff, 2007 ) investigative team. CHAMP refers to a set of theory-driven, evidence-informed, collaboratively designed, family-based approaches meant to address the prevention, health, and mental health needs of poverty-impacted African American and Latino urban youth who are either at risk for HIV exposure or perinatally infected and at high risk for reinfection and possible transmission. CHAMP approaches are informed by theoretical frameworks that incorporate an understanding of the critical influences of multilevel contextual factors on youth risk taking and engagement in protective health behaviors.

The VUKA family program: piloting a family-based psychosocial intervention to promote health and mental health among HIV infected early adolescents in South Africa.

An increasing number of adolescents born with HIV in South Africa are on antiretroviral treatment and have to confront complex issues related to coping with a chronic, stigmatizing and transmittable illness. Very few evidence-based mental health and health promotion programs for this population exist in South Africa. This study builds on a previous collaboratively designed and developmentally timed family-based intervention for early adolescents (CHAMP).

Step-Up: Promoting Youth Mental Health and Development in Inner-City High Schools.

African American and Latino youth who reside in inner-city communities are at heightened risk for compromised mental health, as their neighborhoods are too often associated with serious stressors, including elevated rates of poverty, substance abuse, community violence, as well as scarce youth-supportive resources, and mental health care options. Many aspects of disadvantaged urban contexts have the potential to thwart successful youth development. Adolescents with elevated mental health needs may experience impaired judgment, poor problem-solving skills, and conflictual interpersonal relationships, resulting in unsafe sexual behavior and drug use.

Collaboration With Urban Parents to Deliver a Community-Based Youth HIV Prevention Program.

This article draws on the unified theory of behavior change to examine adult community members' participation in a collaborative, community-based HIV prevention program for inner-city youth. Specifically, the impact of a training and mentorship process is examined with a sample of parent facilitators hired to deliver an evidence-based HIV prevention program in Bronx, New York. Findings indicate that the training program impacted four of five key constructs (environmental constraints, habitual behavior, social norms, and self-concept) expected to be related to parents' ability to deliver the program constructs significantly beyond any increase evidenced by the control group (HIV knowledge increased in both groups).

Effects of Sexual Expectancies on Early Sexualized Behavior Among Urban Minority Youth.

This study examines the effects of different types of sexual expectancies on early sexual behavior among racial/ethnic minority young adolescents. African American and Latino participants between 11 and 13 years old were recruited through schools and community-based agencies in the South Bronx, New York (N = 223). Multiple logistic regression analyses were used to predict early sexual behavior outcomes, which include engagement in sexual possibility situations, kissing, and sexual touching.

Academic adjustment across middle school: the role of public regard and parenting.

In the current longitudinal study, we examined associations between Black and Latino youths' perceptions of the public's opinion of their racial/ethnic group (i.e., public regard) and changes in academic adjustment outcomes across middle school.

Adapting A Family-Based HIV Prevention Program for Homeless Youth and Their Families: The HOPE (HIV prevention Outreach for Parents and Early adolescents) Family Program.

As rates of HIV infection increase in adolescents, it is important to provide prevention programs targeting this population. Homeless adolescents living with their families in shelters are at greater risk of participating in risky sexual behavior and incurring negative health outcomes. A family based HIV-prevention pilot study was conducted with eight homeless families in a New York City shelter to explore: 1) the perceived impact of family communication, parental monitoring, family understanding of puberty, STD's and HIV on preventing risky behavior for the participating youth, and 2) the feasibility of conducting such a program within the shelter system.

Gender and the effects of an economic empowerment program on attitudes toward sexual risk-taking among AIDS-orphaned adolescent youth in Uganda.

Purpose: This article examines gender differences in attitudes toward sexual risk-taking behaviors of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS)-orphaned youth participating in a randomized control trial testing an economic empowerment intervention in rural Uganda.

Methods: Adolescents (average age 13.7 years) who had lost one or both parents to AIDS from 15 comparable schools were randomly assigned to either an experimental (n=135) or a control condition (n=142).

A novel economic intervention to reduce HIV risks among school-going AIDS orphans in rural Uganda.

This study tested an economic intervention to reduce HIV risks among AIDS-orphaned adolescents. Adolescents (n = 96) were randomly assigned to receive the intervention or usual care for orphans in Uganda. Data obtained at baseline and 12-month follow-up revealed significant differences between the treatment and control groups in HIV prevention attitudes and educational planning.