Description of Intervention: Focus on Kids

The intervention, developed through ethnographic research, targeted pre- and early-adolescents in their existing friendship groups. Being in such a group was a requirement of enrollment. AIDS prevention education was based on a social cognitive model, Protection Motivation Theory (PMT), that uses cost and reward constructs to explain how intentions are formed to respond to threats in either adaptive or maladaptive ways.

The intervention consisted of 8 sessions: seven 1½-hour weekly meetings at local recreational centers and one day-long session at a rural campsite. The intervention was delivered in a large Eastern city to peer groups that consisted of 3 to 10 same-gender friends within 3 years of age of each other. The sessions were led by a pair of interventionists, at least one of whom was gender matched to the group. Most of the interventionists were African-American men and women recruited from the community.

Each session focused on one or more PMT concepts and also reviewed concepts from the prior session. Beginning in the first session and integrated throughout, a family genogram was used to illustrate the application of concepts to real-life situations.

Sessions emphasized values clarification and goal setting; presented facts regarding AIDS, STDs, contraception, and human development; and provided condoms. Multiple delivery formats were used to address individual variability in receptivity to media, e.g., videos, games, role-playing, acting, storytelling, and arts and crafts.

In the seventh session, participants developed community projects with specific target audiences and intervention messages. The eighth session included a presentation of the projects and concluded with a "graduation" ceremony.