The Evaluation of Setting and a Culturally Specific HIV/AIDS Curriculum: HIV/AIDS Knowledge and Behavioral Intent of African American Adolescents

Effectively educating African American adolescents about the human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) has recently become a crucial issue for many health educators. As a result, the American National Red Cross developed a culturally specific HIV/AIDS education course designed to reach African American urban adolescents. An evaluation of this course was conducted with 339 youths who participated in course presentations in their schools in Los Angeles, California. The purpose of the evaluation was to measure the effectiveness of the culturally specific curriculum and the environment in which it was presented. The course was presented in schools, and both African American and non-African American students participated. Classroom groups were generally of two types: ethnically homogeneous (predominantly one ethnic group, only) and ethnically heterogeneous (ethnically mixed groups). Results showed that although all students increased their knowledge and behavioral intent after the course, students performed significantly better in ethnically homogeneous classrooms as compared to ethnically heterogeneous classrooms. The study pointed out some difficulties in the evaluation of culturally specific courses, such as confounding variables, unreliable instruments, and the lack of long-term follow-up testing.