Elementary HIV Prevention in a Community Based Setting
The proposed study is a modified replication of the 1995 study conducted by Schonfeld et al. and aims to determine whether an elementary AIDS education prevention program in a community setting can advance young children's understanding of this illness. Children (N = 85; ages 5-7; 98 % African-American) attending Project Challenge Camp Hope, a community summer camp for children ages 5-20 infected or affected by HIV / AIDS will take part in a randomized, controlled trial used to measure the impact of a 3-week, multifaceted AIDS education program on conceptual understanding, factual knowledge, and fears about AIDS. Children in the control group will not receive the AIDS education program, but will receive the original lesson plans written by the camp. Children in the intervention groups are expected to achieve significant gains in the level of understanding of the concepts of causality and prevention of AIDS (equivalent to 2 years growth in the level of conceptual sophistication), and to accurately identify causes of AIDS in response to open-ended questions after the intervention. The proposed study seeks to ascertain whether significant advances in conceptual understanding about AIDS can be achieved through direct educational interventions in a community setting.