Preventing HIV: Interactive Program for special Ed Youth

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The overall goal of this project is to
create an interactive program designed to prevent HIV/AIDS among intellectually
disabled (ID) adolescents. The specific focus is on those adolescents with
cognitive limitations that fall into the categories of "borderline intellectual
functioning" (IQ range generally 71-84), "mild mental retardation" (IQ range
generally 50-55 to 70) and "moderate mental retardation" (IQ range generally
35-40 to 50-55). Young people with ID are frequently ill informed about
HIV/AIDS and transmission. Despite this lack of information, many adolescents
with IDs are sexually active, and likely to engage in high-risk behaviors that
could result in the transmission of HIV/AIDS. This project will develop two
stand-alone gender-specific CD-ROM HIV/AIDS prevention programs for youth with
IDs at the middle school and high school age levels who fall into three
categories of intellectual functioning. Within each program, decision-making,
and behavioral skills will be taught using an interactive text-free program
incorporating graphics, animation, and video components. Direct Instruction
(DI) methodology will be employed to facilitate mastery of program content for
all program users. The program will be evaluated by 350 individuals with
intellectual disabilities in a randomized clinical trial.
PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATION: NOT AVAILABLE