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01-12-2008

Substance Use and Sexual Risk Prevention in Cape Town, South Africa: An Evaluation of the HealthWise Program

Authors: Edward A. Smith, Lori-Ann Palen, Linda L. Caldwell, Alan J. Flisher, John W. Graham, Catherine Mathews, Lisa Wegner, Tania Vergnani

Published in: Prevention Science | Issue 4/2008

Abstract

Sexual behavior and substance use represent major threats to the health and well-being of South African adolescents, especially in light of the high prevalence of HIV infection in this population. However, there is currently a lack of evidence-based school programs designed to address health risk behaviors. The current study details the evaluation of HealthWise South Africa, a leisure, life skills, and sexuality education intervention for eighth and ninth grade students. We hypothesized that, compared to controls, HealthWise participants would have delayed sexual initiation, reduced rates of current sexual activity, increased use of and perceived access to condoms, and lower rates of lifetime and past use of multiple substances. Longitudinal data were analyzed using logistic regression of multiply imputed data. Results indicate that HealthWise was effective in increasing the perception of condom availability for both genders (OR = 1.6). As compared to HealthWise participants, control participants also had steeper increases in recent and heavy use of alcohol (OR = 1.4 [95% C.I. = 1.1–1.8], 1.6 [1.2–2.2], respectively) and recent and heavy cigarette use (OR = 1.4 [1.1–1.7], 1.4 [1.1–1.8], respectively). There were also several significant gender by treatment interactions, which are discussed. These results suggest that HealthWise is a promising approach to reducing multiple health risk behaviors among the population of school-going South African adolescents.

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Title: Substance Use and Sexual Risk Prevention in Cape Town, South Africa: An Evaluation of the HealthWise Program
Authors: Edward A. Smith
Lori-Ann Palen
Linda L. Caldwell
Alan J. Flisher
John W. Graham
Catherine Mathews
Lisa Wegner
Tania Vergnani
Publication date: 01-12-2008
Publisher: Springer US
Published in: Prevention Science / Issue 4/2008
Print ISSN: 1389-4986
Electronic ISSN: 1573-6695
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-008-0103-z

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Substance Use and Sexual Risk Prevention in Cape Town, South Africa: An Evaluation of the HealthWise Program

Abstract

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