Bradley, Hasbro Study on HIV and Juvenile Offenders
Monday, April 25, 2011
A recent study by the Bradley Hasbro Children’s Research Center shows that the current HIV prevention program for juvenile offenders causes no increase in condom use or safer sexual behavior.
The group plans to test a new family-based program in hopes of more positive results. Marina Tolou-Shams, Ph.D. led the study, which split 57 juvenile drug court offenders (meaning they were arrested for substance-related crimes) into either a basic health education group or an HIV prevention intervention.
After a total of 10 hours of safe-sex sessions, the HIV prevention group continued to perform risky sexual activities.
Trying family involvement
Tolou-Shams, a child psychologist and researcher with the Bradley Hasbro Children’s Research Center, is working to incorporate family involvement into the program. She and her team have already recruited 40 families for a new pilot study which will test the effects of this family-based system.
“Family involvement has typically not been incorporated into these interventions for young offenders because these families tend to be overburdened and under-resourced,” Tolou-Shams said. To combat this problem, she is has developed recruitment and engagement strategies.
Secondary strategies
Beyond parental involvement, Tolou-Shams believes integrating mental health and substance abuse interventions would, likewise, improve the efficiency of HIV prevention interventions.
It has been estimated that at least half of all new HIV infections in the United States are among people under 25, and twelve percent of all the HIV cases diagnosed in Rhode Island from 2000 to 2008 occurred in individuals 13 – 24 years of age, according to the State of Rhode Island Department of Health Office of HIV/AIDS & Viral Hepatitis.
Juvenile offenders are at an even greater risk for contracting HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases because they tend to have sex at earlier ages, have more sexual partners, use condoms less frequently and engage in more substance and alcohol use. “This is a very high risk group for HIV and STDs,” said Tolou-Shams, “and clearly there is still a lot more work to be done to find a successful intervention to reduce their risk.”For more information on the study, click here.
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