STI/HIV Prevention Intervention for Adolescents in Singapore

Overview

A randomized controlled trial conducted on 688 sexually experienced adolescents, with 337 participants assigned to the routine program, and 351 to the new intervention developed from an assessment of their needs. All participants will complete a self-administered questionnaire and an interview on their knowledge of sexually transmitted infections (STIs)/Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), self-efficacy, skills in negotiating for sexual abstinence or condom use, and sexual behaviors at baseline and at 6- and 12-months' post- intervention. All will be tested for STIs. Participants in the intervention group will receive 4 individual counseling sessions on STIs/HIV knowledge, life skills, secondary abstinence, safer sex and healthy relationships over 1 year. They will also be referred to counselors for proactive social and emotional support delivered through electronic media and other means. The control group will receive the usual counseling session at first and follow-up clinic visit.

The reasons for conducting this study in a clinical setting is threefold. 1. This is group of adolescents that has a high risk for transmitting STIs to the community. Prior to this intervention, the investigators did a preliminary study and found a high number of sex partners (median: 4, range: 1-25) and high prevalence of unprotected sex (90%) and STIs (60%) in this group. Other factors in this group that facilitate the transmission of STIs is that 36% continued to engage in unprotected sex and half of the boys (49%) and three quarters of the girls (77%) delayed seeking treatment for more than a week after experiencing symptoms of STIs. The rate at which STIs spread in a population depends upon the average number of new cases of infection generated by an infected person (the basic or case reproduction ratio (Ro). This ratio, in turn, depends upon the efficiency of transmission, (b), the mean rate of change of sexual partners (c), and the average duration of infectiousness (D) as expressed in the form: Ro=b\*c\*D. Given their high number of sex partners and the long duration of infectiousness owing to their delay in seeking treatment, they would form an important group for spreading STIs to the general population. 2. The investigators are able to adopt a rigorous study design, that is, a randomized controlled trial in a clinical setting to evaluate the efficacy of the intervention, and validate self-reported behaviors with laboratory tests for STIs. In contrast, it is less feasible to conduct the study in schools presently because of the sensitivity of the topic, conservative attitudes of parents and possible biases of self-reported sexual behavior in schools. School-based interventions will also exclude school drop outs, who were found in this ongoing study, to be significantly, more likely to engage in sexual activity. 3. The investigators have conducted needs assessment of this group and this would help in developing interventions specifically for them. For instance, the investigators found that both males and females lack the confidence of using condoms correctly. The investigators incorporated a session on instilling skills for condom use in our intervention.