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Affect Management for HIV Prevention with Adolescents in Therapeutic Schools: The Immediate Impact of Project Balance

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Abstract

Adolescents in therapeutic schools are at greater risk for HIV and other STIs than their peers due to earlier higher rates of sexual risk and difficulty managing strong emotions. HIV prevention programs that incorporate techniques for affect management (AM) during sexual situations may be beneficial. This paper determined the immediate impact of such an intervention, AM, compared to a standard, skills-based HIV prevention intervention and a general health promotion intervention (HP) for 377 youth, ages 13–19, in therapeutic schools in two cities. 1 month after the intervention, analyses that adjusted for the baseline scores found adolescents in AM were more likely to report condom use at last sex than those in HP (0.89 vs. 0.67, p = 0.02) and that their HIV knowledge was significantly greater. These data suggest that AM techniques might improve the impact of standard skills-based prevention programs for adolescents in therapeutic schools.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bradley Hasbro Children’s Research Center, Rhode Island Hospital and The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, One Hoppin Street, Suite 204, Providence, RI, 02903, USA

    Larry K. Brown, Christopher Houck & Jesse Misbin

  2. Institution for Juvenile Research, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    Geri Donenberg, Erin Emerson & Kelly Donahue

Authors
  1. Larry K. Brown
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  2. Christopher Houck
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  3. Geri Donenberg
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  4. Erin Emerson
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  5. Kelly Donahue
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  6. Jesse Misbin
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Larry K. Brown.

Additional information

Research supported by NIMH grant R01 MH066641to Rhode Island Hospital and University of Illinois at Chicago, and by the Lifespan/Brown/Tufts Center for AIDS Research (P30 AI042853).

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Brown, L.K., Houck, C., Donenberg, G. et al. Affect Management for HIV Prevention with Adolescents in Therapeutic Schools: The Immediate Impact of Project Balance. AIDS Behav 17, 2773–2780 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-013-0599-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-013-0599-5

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