SBIR-STTR Award

The HIV/AIDS Adolescent Risk Reduction Project (HAARP) focuses on the window of opportunity existing for some adolescents and HIV/AIDS. The project is based on the hypothesis that adolescents who receive motivating information related to their vulnerability to HIV and effective practice in AIDS prevention behaviors will have lower HIV risk scores than those who do not receive the coupled interventions. The project is a collaborative venture between AIDS Impact, Seattle and Western Washington University (WWU) in Bellingham, WA. The HAARP study will have three interventions and a control group: (1) a motivating trigger tape aimed at raising vulnerabilities with guided discussion; (2) a skill-building refusal skills modeling video and role play aimed at increasing self-efficacy; and (3) a combined pairing of the previous two interventions. A risk assessment will be developed and administered pre and post to all groups plus a control group. The 200 students choosing to participate will be from a pool of 650 randomly selected undergraduate students. The project will develop two video tapes and facilitator guides as intervention elements: (1) a :07 trigger tape aimed at eliciting vulnerability and providing motivation; (2) an :08 refusal skills tape providing models.Awardee's statement of the potential commercial applications of the research:Three products will result from Phase I: two video-tapes and facilitators guides, and a packaged set of both, which can be used by teachers, health, counseling and religious personnel in schools, colleges, universities, health, community organizations and PTA'S. With only slight variations, the materials can be designed for use by parents or individuals. The products will add to the existing AIDS Impact 13 product sets.National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)

HAARP is a Phase II project that studies adolescent risk reduction; this project focuses on motivation and safer sex skills based on the Theories of Social Learning and Reasoned Action. 204 college subjects were studied in Phase I using a 72 item RAI compiled and validated to measure 7 constructs: self-esteem, self-efficacy, knowledge, behavioral, intent and vulnerability. The research design included I control group and 3 intervention groups. The Phase II study will include 19-20 y.o. entering college students at Western Washington University, 15-16 y.o. and 13-14 yo in the Seattle School System. Three sets of videos will be developed and tested in Phase II; each tape will include a vulnerability trigger tape and a skills tape, using a similar research design.Awardee's statement of the potential commercial applications of the research: The 6 videotapes and facilitator's guide, produced in Phase II and the workshop material adaptation set, are products that are designed with the intention of marketing to the health care markets, counselling and education professionals.National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)