Plus Parental, School-Wide, and Community Support

Program Components

• Classroom-based, social development curriculum
• Sixteen to 21 lessons per year in grades five through eight
• Culturally appropriate curriculum based on: a) principles that promote African American cultural values; b) culturally based teaching methods; and c) African and African American history and literature
• Activities teaching cognitive-behavioral skills
• Parental support program
• School-wide youth support program
• Communitywide program, including a task force to forge links between parents, school personnel, students and community advocates
• Educator training and monitoring

For Use With

• Pre-teen and early adolescent African American males, grades 5 through 8
• Urban pre-teen and early adolescent African American males

Evaluation Methodology

• Quasi-experimental, longitudinal, cluster randomized trial, including two treatment and one comparison conditions, in 12 metropolitan schools in Chicago, Illinois
• Urban African American youth in grades five through eight (n=668 at baseline; average n=644 at each follow-up assessment; n=1,155 providing data at one or more follow-up assessments); average age at baseline = 10.8 years
• Pretest at baseline (beginning of grade five) and follow-up assessments at the end of grades five, six, seven, and eight

Evaluation Findings 

• Reduced incidence of sexual intercourse (SCI, males)
• Increased condom use (SCI, males)

Evaluators' Comments: A major strength of the SCI [school community intervention] program was the strong partnership that developed with community organizations, including a community-based mental health organization. All stakeholders, including academia, the schools, and their communities, had very different strengths and weaknesses that provided challenges as well as opportunities.
Source: Flay, Graumlich, Segawa et al., 2004

Program Description

The Aban Aya program is grounded in theories of behavior change. Its culturally appropriate, social development curriculum includes: 1) the Nguzo Saba principles to promote African American cultural values, including unity, self-determination and responsibility; 2) culturally based teaching methods, such as storytelling and proverbs; and 3) African and African American history and literature. The curriculum teaches cognitive-behavioral skills to build self-esteem and empathy, manage stress and anxiety, develop healthy interpersonal relationships, resist peer pressure, and develop skills in making decisions, solving problems, resolving conflicts, and setting goals. The focus of the curriculum is to reduce risk and increase protective factors and skills related to the targeted behaviors of violence, provoking behavior, substance use, school delinquency, and sexual behaviors (specifically engaging in sexual intercourse and failing to use condoms).

The program should be offered along with additional components: 1) parental support to reinforce students' skills and promote parent-child communication; 2) school staff and school-wide youth support efforts to integrate the skills throughout the school environment; and 3) a local community program to forge links between parents, schools, and businesses. The goal of these additional components is to 'rebuild the village' and to create a 'sense of ownership among all stakeholders' in the community in order to create sustainability for the program. Although the curriculum packaged and sold by PASHA does not include these components, they are very important. (See findings.)

Evaluation Methodology

The evaluation was a longitudinal trial with three conditions, conducted in 12 metropolitan (nine inner-city and three close-in suburban) schools in Chicago, Illinois, between 1994 and 1998. Study schools had at least 91 percent African American enrollment. Participants were students in fifth grade classes in the 12 schools during the 1994-95 school year or those who transferred in during the four years of the study. Students who transferred out were not followed up, although evaluation did include the data collected from them before they transferred out. Approximately 77 percent of students in the study received federally subsidized school lunches; 47 percent lived in a two-parent household. At baseline, the sample was 49.5 percent male and over 90 percent African American; average age 10.8 years. An average of 20 percent turnover occurred during each year of the study, resulting in an average of 644 students (range 597-674) at each follow-up point. Just over 50 percent (n=339) of the 668 original students were still present at the end of eighth grade. The total number of students providing data at baseline and/or one or more follow-up points was 1,153.

There were two experimental conditions and one comparison condition. The first experimental condition (SDC) received the classroom-based social development curriculum, consisting of 16 to 21 lessons taught each year in grades five through eight. The second experimental condition (SCI or school/community intervention) received the same curriculum plus the parental support, school-wide youth support, and community-wide support elements. The comparison condition was a health enhancement curriculum (HEC) that had the same number of lessons as the social-development curriculum and taught some of the same skills, but with a focus on promoting healthy behaviors related to nutrition, physical activity, and overall health care. The three conditions were randomized among schools chosen for the intervention. Outcome data were derived from the baseline and end point responses for all three conditions (n=417 for SDI participants; n=366 for SCI participants; n=372 for comparisons).

Evaluators assessed the data separately for males and females by: 1) the curriculum-only intervention (SDC) versus the health education comparison condition; 2) the curriculum enhanced by parental, school, and community components intervention (SCI) versus the comparison condition; and SDC compared to SCI. For males, both intervention conditions were associated with significant behavioral changes relative to comparisons. The differences were less significant for males when the two intervention conditions were directly compared to each other. The evaluation reported on behavioral outcomes only and not on changes in knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions.

Outcomes

• Behaviors—
  • Reduced frequency of sex—The SDC and the SCI interventions both assisted males, but not females, to reduce the incidence of recent sex between baseline and the end of eighth grade. For curriculum-only (SDC) male participants when analyzed versus comparisons, the reduction was 44 percent, nearly significant at a P value of.08. However, for participants in curriculum-plus (SCI) intervention versus comparisons, the reduction was statistically significant at 65 percent (P=.02). Among females who received either SDC or SCI, reports of recent sex increased from baseline to the end of eighth grade, although actual numbers of sexually active females were quite small.
  • Increased condom use—When analyzed with comparison students, males who participated in the SCI intervention significantly increased their condom use between baseline and the end of eighth grade (165 percent; P=.045). When analyzed with comparison students, males who received SDC (the curriculum only) improved their condom use 95 percent, a change that was statistically insignificant (P=.28). Among females, comparison youth and SDC recipients increased their condom use at close to equal proportions, and both increased condom use more than SCI participants. Findings relating to the females were statistically insignificant.
  • Note: Of potential importance to some program planners, the Aban Aya Youth program was highly effective at reducing other risk behaviors among males, but not females. Evaluation found statistically significant effects among male participants in reduced violence (SDC, P=0.5; SCI, P=.02), reduced provoking behavior (SCI, P=.03), reduced school delinquency (SCI, P<.001), and reduced substance use (SDC, P=.05; SCI, P=.05).

For More Information or to Order, Contact

• Sociometrics, Program Archive on Sexuality, Health & Adolescence: Phone 1.800.846.3475; Fax 1.650.949.3200; Email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ; Web http://www.socio.com  This is for the curriculum only.

For more information on the evaluation or the parental, school & community components, please contact:

• Brian R. Flay, Ph.D, Professor of Public Health, College of Health & Human Science, Oregon State University, Corvallis OR 97331; This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it