GET REAL ABOUT AIDS
2nd edition, High School Level

Target Audience: High school level Length: 13 class periods Activities: Fun to learn, easy to teach, entertaining activities including discussions, role playing, simulations, and videos. Components: A teacher's guide, materials needed to teach the lessons, videos, and a container for the components. Theories: Hunter's Instructional Theory Into Practice (ITIP), Botvin's teaching of social skills, the Johnson Brothers' cooperative team learning, Hawkins and Catalano's risk reduction and changing of peer norms, and Social Learning Theory Special Considerations: Requires use of TV monitor and VCR.

Objectives: After completing this program, students will: Reduce their risk of becoming infected with HIV Delay sexual activity Increase condom use if sexually active Decrease number of sexual partners if sexually active Topics: Perception of vulnerability to HIV Functional knowledge about HIV including transmission and non-transmission, myths and facts, testing for antibodies, condom use, other STDs Skills to avoid risky situations Social norms related to sex and HIV/AIDS

tudents in the intervention classes were more likely to report they had purchased a condom than students in the control condition. Sexually active students reported having fewer sexual partners within the past two months and using a condom more often during sexual intercourse. The intervention did not significantly postpone the onset of sexual intercourse.

Students in the intervention group scored significantly higher on a knowledge test of HIV than comparison students. Intervention students expressed greater intention to engage in safer sexual practices within the next two month period. For sexually active students, that meant they intended to engage in intercourse less often and to use a condom when they did have intercourse. Intervention students were more likely to believe that someone their age who engaged in risk behaviors could become infected with HIV.

Classroom observations indicated that teachers included 75% of the lesson components and taught them as intended 89% of the time. The majority of teachers rated all lessons more effective than their usual lessons and reported that student reactions were extremely positive.

Research Design: During the fall semester of 1991, six Colorado school districts delivered this curriculum to over 2,800 9th-12th grade students for 15 consecutive days. In the quasi-experimental design, 17 schools were assigned to the intervention group (n=10) or the comparison group (n=7). Comparison and intervention schools were matched on grade, gender, sex, and racial/ethnic distribution. Students completed a self-report questionnaire at the beginning (baseline), at the end of the intervention semester, and at the end of the school year (6 months later). In addition to the curriculum, many intervention schools implemented activities that reinforced themes of the lessons, such as displaying HIV/AIDS posters throughout school, and students delivering wallet sized HIV/AIDS information cards to other students. In comparison schools, teachers continued to offer their existing HIV education.

Ordering and Training information: Comprehensive Health Education Foundation
1-800-323-2433