Evaluation of the Somos Fuertes HIV prevention programme in college women

Abstract

The goal of this study was to examine the impact of a culturally appropriate HIV prevention and sexual empowerment curriculum workshop on female college students at a Hispanic-serving institution in the USA. Female participants in the Somos Fuertes: Strong Women Making Healthy Choices curriculum (n = 175) from a variety of ethnicities completed pre- and post-surveys during the academic years 2007–2008, 2008–2009, and 2009–2010. Paired t-tests were conducted to examine pre- and post-results on five scales: perceived sexually transmitted infection (STI) risk, perceived HIV risk, intended use of barriers during sex, effective communication skills, and behavioural self-efficacy. The analyses showed significant differences with at least medium effect sizes for all variables except perceived STI risk. The evaluation results demonstrate that the workshop offers a viable curriculum to implement on college campuses interested in affecting change related to HIV prevention strategies in a multicultural female population.

Keywords:

• HIV
• sexual health
• empowerment
• young women
• college health
• USA

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Funding

This research was conducted as part of the Somos Fuertes: Strong Women Making Healthy Choices programme and was supported by funding from the Office on Women’s Health [grant number 6 HPPWH060004]. The findings and conclusions in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the US Department of Health and Human Services.