COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP TO PREVENT URBAN YOUTH HIV RISK

DESCRIPTION (adapted from the applicant's abstract): The primary aim of this continuation application is to expand the study of the development and impact of collaborative partnerships between low-income, minority urban communities and university-based researchers on the design, delivery, outcome and transfer of ownership of a promising, family-based HIV/AIDS prevention program. The applicant requests support for research focused on the CHAMP (Chicago HIV Prevention and Adolescent Mental Health Project) Family Program, a three year, developmentally focused, family-based intervention delivered by mental health/parent teams when children are in the 4th and 5th grade and then again at the 6th and 7th grade level. The design, delivery and evaluation of CHAMP have been overseen by the CHAMP Collaborative Board, consisting of partners, teachers, representatives from community-based agencies and researchers. The current proposal will study the development and impact of CHAMP Collaborative Boards in two new sites (New York and Chicago). At both sites, CHAMP Collaborative Boards will meet bi-monthly to review and adapt the CHAMP Family Program content to respond to emerging research data from the CHAMP Family Study, a longitudinal study of child, family and community factors that place inner-city children at risk for HIV exposure during the transition to adolescence and pressing community needs related to HIV risks. In addition, both Boards will oversee a replication test of the impact of CHAMP with 200 4th/5th grade children and their families randomly assigned to the program or longitudinal follow-up. Changes in proximal intervention targets (e.g. family communication, parental monitoring, family warmth and support) and community context (e.g. norms regarding sexual and HIV risk behavior, neighborhood cohesion, social integration, involvement with community resources) will be tested. During the award period, linkages to local city and state institutions and funding source and community-based agencies will be established in order to examine the sustainability of CHAMP Collaborative Boards and the CHAMP intervention to the community. In addition, at the Chicago site, the longitudinal impact of CHAMP on proximal family outcomes -- for example, parent/child communication, knowledge/attitudes about HIV/AIDS, monitoring, within family support, contextual outcomes (e.g. reliance on social networks for emotional support and assistance with parenting) and distal outcomes (e.g. negotiation of peer pressure situations, high risk sexual behavior, substance use) will be assessed for adolescents (14 to 16 years) who received the CHAMP Family Program at pre and early adolescence in comparison to those randomly assigned to the longitudinal follow-up interview condition during the prior funding cycle (n=500).