Integrating HIV and Substance Abuse Prevention for Hispanic Families: La Familia

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): There is a dearth of research on the affects of recent and remote stressors (including pre- migration stress events) in the Hispanic population and there remains the need for the development of interventions which can address these stressors, and reduce negative risky behavior such as drug use and risky sexual behaviors (Avison and Gotlib, 1994). As such, there currently exists a large market of mental health professionals, school counselors, pediatricians, and researchers who are in need of effective behavioral health prevention interventions for Hispanic youth and their families. Although many Hispanic youth are at increased risk for substance abuse, teen pregnancy, unsafe sexual practices and HIV (Prado et al., 2006), there is a lack of commercially available evidence-based practices for Hispanic youth which target substance abuse and HIV prevention (Cervantes, Kappos, Duenas and Arellano, 2003). The long- term objective of this proposed SBIR Phase I research is to revise the Familia Adelante (FA) early drug intervention and prevention program (Cervantes, 2005) to incorporate an HIV prevention component, so as to make Familia Adelante an effective and commercially available model program. Through qualitative data collection with an expert panel and members of the target population of Hispanic families (n=144), this Phase I SBIR study will revise the FA program to include an HIV prevention component, as well as determine the feasibility of designing a Phase II SBIR study which will test the Familia Adelante-Revised (FA-R) in a multi site randomized clinical trial sample of Hispanic families. Upon successful completion of the Phase II SBIR study, BAI aims at marketing the FA-R for commercial purposes to health and mental health care providers, school mental health personnel and researchers who work with Hispanic families. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: There currently exists a large market of mental health professionals, school counselors, pediatricians, and researchers who are in need of effective behavioral health prevention interventions for Hispanic youth and their families. Although many Hispanic youth are at increased risk for substance abuse, teen pregnancy, unsafe sexual practices and HIV (Prado et al., 2006), there is a lack of commercially available evidence- based practices for Hispanic youth which target substance abuse and HIV prevention (Cervantes, Kappos, Duenas and Arellano, 2003). The long-term objective of this proposed SBIR research is to revise the Familia Adelante (FA) early drug intervention and prevention program (Cervantes, 2005) by incorporating an HIV prevention component, so as to make Familia Adelante an effective and commercially available model program. This Phase I SBIR study will revise the FA program to include an HIV prevention component, as well as determine the feasibility of designing a Phase II SBIR study which will test the Familia Adelante-Revised (FA-R) in a multi site randomized clinical trial sample of Hispanic families.