| Aban Aya Youth Project |
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Plus Parental, School-Wide, and Community SupportProgram Components
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Evaluation Methodology
Evaluation Findings
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. Program DescriptionThe 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 MethodologyThe 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
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