Reducing HIV and AIDS through Prevention (RHAP): A Theoretically Based Approach for Teaching HIV Prevention to Adolescents through an Exploration of Popular Music

Abstract

Using popular culture to engage students in discussions of HIV prevention is a nontraditional approach that may complement current prevention efforts and enhance the ability to reach youth who are at high risk of contracting HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. Hip-hop or rap music is the dominant genre of music among adolescents, especially Black and Latino youth who are disproportionately impacted by HIV and AIDS. This paper describes the rationale and development of the Reducing HIV and AIDS through Prevention (RHAP) program, a school-based program that uses hiphop/rap music as a vehicle for raising awareness among adolescents about HIV/AIDS. Constructs from the Social Cognitive Theory and the Sexual Script Theory were used in developing the program. It was piloted and evaluated among 26 middle school students in East Harlem, New York. The lessons learned from a formative evaluation of the program and the implications for developing other programs targeting public health problems are discussed. The RHAP program challenges the traditional pedagogue-student paradigm and provides an alternative approach to teaching about HIV prevention and awareness.

Predictors of Sexual Scripts Among Young, Sexually-Active, Substance- Using African American Women

“…Several studies to date explored sexual scripts of AA women [36,49,54,55,59,72,73,75,77,94]. To our knowledge, this is the first study to move beyond the description of sexual scripts to identify and describe factors that are likely along the pathway to sexual script development among YSSAAW.…”

“…face-to-face meetings. Codes were collapsed into themes informed by Wingood's focus of Connell's TGP on the powerless of AA women in sexual decision making [44][45][46]66] and Stephen and Phillip focus on female's sexual script development research of AA women [36,[50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60]. The research team then conducted a frequency analysis on emerging themes using NVIVO11 and Microsoft Excel software.…”

“…Concurrently, interventions targeting gender-based power imbalances that contribute to high risk sex behaviors among YSSAAW are lacking among existing HIV interventions. The Sexual Script Theory (SST) [36][37][38][39][40][41][42] and the Theory of Gender and Power (TGP) [41,[43][44][45][46][47][48] offer a theoretical framework to effectively adapt interventions to be culturally relevant to YSSAAW.…”

“…Stephens and Phillips' focus of females' sexual script development research with AA women explores ways culture shapes perception, expression of appropriate and socially acceptable sexual behavior, individual level expectations, and experiences of behaviors that occur in series [49] within a population at high risk for HIV [36,[50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60]. The SST articulates the way sexual scripts provide instructions (i.e., a roadmap) for clarifying the intention and meaning of sexual cues and responding to them, which in turn informs how men and women behave in sexual situations [50,51,[60][61][62][63].…”

Hip Hop as an Agent for Health and Wellbeing in Schools

“…Invariably, these interventions sought to address physical constructs of wellbeing. This included four sexual health programs, which used: rap videos to deconstruct and discuss narratives of rape culture (Lamb & Randazzo, 2016); analysis of lyrical content in popular rap videos to raise awareness around STIs (Boutin-Foster et al, 2010); lyric writing to augment a larger program promoting abstinence and positive sexual norms (Akintobi et al, 2011); and the creation, recording, and performance of rap songs promoting community-wide awareness of sexual health issues (Crouch et al, 2011).…”