The Dreamer Girls Project: Adaptation of SISTA/SIHLE for HIV/AIDS and Substance Abuse Prevention Among Black Adolescent Girls

Primary outcomes

1. Change in 30-day drug use

   Time frame: 30 days

   Past 30-day drug use will be measured using items from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2006) and Youth Risk Behavior Survey. The scale consisted of three items that assesses how often participants smoked cigarettes, drank alcohol, and smoked marijuana in the past 30 days. An example of an item is, "Estimate the number of days you used marijuana or hashish in the last 30 days." Participants responded to these items on a 7-point scale (1 = 0 days; 2 =1-2 days, 3 = 3-5 days; 4 = 6-9 days; 5 = 10-19 days; 6 = 20-29 days; 7 = All 30 days). The sum of this scale is the mean of responses on the three items, with higher scores indicating greater frequency of use.

2. Change in perception of drug use risk

   Time frame: Baseline, 30 days, 60 days

   To assess the perceived risk of using alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana, adapted questions from the Monitoring the Future study will be used. Questions such as: perceived risk of moderate daily drinking, heavy drinking, combining alcohol with marijuana, daily smoking and heavy, daily and heavy marijuana use. The choices are: 0=Can't Say/Drug Unfamiliar, 1=No risk, 2=Slight risk, 3=Moderate risk, 4=Great risk. All of the items will be summed together. Higher score indicates greater perception of risk from using alcohol and drugs

3. Change in perception of sexual risk

   Time frame: Baseline, 30 days, 60 days

   Perception of Sexual Risk was assessed using eight items that measured participants' perception of sexual risk (sample item: How much do you think people risk harming themselves physically if they have sex without a condom or dental dam?) and substance use risk (sample item: How much do people risk harming themselves physically or in other ways when they smoke marijuana once or twice a week?). Items will be summed and higher scores will indicate greater perceived risk

4. Change in HIV knowledge

   Time frame: Baseline, 30 days, 60 days

   HIV Knowledge will be assessed using eight items that measured participants' HIV knowledge (sample item: Only people who look sick can spread the HIV/AIDS virus.). Responses were recorded using True (1) or False (0). Items will be summed and higher scores indicated greater HIV knowledge

5. Change in sexual risk behavior

   Time frame: Baseline, 30 days, 60 days

   Sexual Risk Behavior: Six items will be adapted from the National Youth Risk Behavior Survey , which assess sexual behavior among high school aged adolescents. These items included: having ever had vaginal sex, how many times participants had sex in the past 3 months, number of lifetime sexual partners, age of first sexual intercourse, having sex under the influence of drugs and alcohol, and having unprotected sex without a condom. A composite score will be used where the range of score is 0 to 30, the higher the score the more perception of risk

6. Change in ethnic identity

   Time frame: Baseline, 30 days, 60 days

   Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (MEIM) Revised consists of six questions and will be used to measure ethnic identity. Responses using a 4-point Likert-type scale will range from Strongly disagree (1) to Strongly agree (4). Scores were totaled by summing responses, with higher scores representing greater ethnic identification (Cronbach α = .86). Responses on the original MEIM ranged from 20 to a maximum of 80.