Citation

Mathews C, Eggers SM, Townsend L, Aarø LE, de Vries PJ, Mason-Jones AJ, De Koker P, McClinton Appollis T, Mtshizana Y, Koech J, Wubs AA, de Vries H. AIDS Behav. 2016; 20(9): 1821-1840.

Affiliation

Department of Health Promotion, Caphri Research Institute, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s10461-016-1410-1

PMID

27142057

Abstract

Young South Africans, especially women, are at high risk of HIV. We evaluated the effects of PREPARE, a multi-component, school-based HIV prevention intervention to delay sexual debut, increase condom use and decrease intimate partner violence (IPV) among young adolescents. We conducted a cluster RCT among Grade eights in 42 high schools. The intervention comprised education sessions, a school health service and a school sexual violence prevention programme. Participants completed questionnaires at baseline, 6 and 12 months. Regression was undertaken to provide ORs or coefficients adjusted for clustering. Of 6244 sampled adolescents, 55.3 % participated. At 12 months there were no differences between intervention and control arms in sexual risk behaviours. Participants in the intervention arm were less likely to report IPV victimisation (35.1 vs. 40.9 %; OR 0.77, 95 % CI 0.61-0.99; t(40) = 2.14) suggesting the intervention shaped intimate partnerships into safer ones, potentially lowering the risk for HIV.

Language: en