Soap Opera Video on Handheld Computers to Reduce Young Urban Women’s HIV Sex Risk

Streaming Weekly Soap Opera Video Episodes to Smartphones in a Randomized Controlled Trial to Reduce HIV Risk in Young Urban African American/Black Women

“…Videos have been shown to be an effective medium to communicate HIV risk reduction and to promote sexual health [31][32][33][34]. Young adults are increasingly exposed to multimedia in the form of videos and computer games [35].…”

“…Others have also called for reframing the familiar sex script [53]. Using the soap opera format, the stories were grounded in urban women's own life experiences so that women may identify with the heroine's process of change [31,39].…”

“…The rationale for the screening criteria of high risk was to tailor the video intervention to those engaging in high risk behaviors. Previous findings indicate the importance of both message relevance and tailoring [31,[63][64][65]. Out of the 505 women screened for this study, 342 were eligible, 295 agreed to participate in the main study, signed consent, and were randomized by block randomization into one of the two condition arms: the 12-episode video series Love, Sex, and Choices or the 12-HIV health promotion messages.…”

“…Based on the aforementioned content analysis of focus groups, the story was written by the principal investigator (PI) and a RA [31], and filmed by a filmmaker with professional actors. Results of a cross sectional study with a pretest-posttest randomized control group design, showed a statistically significant reduction in sex scripted expectations to engage in unprotected sex in the intervention group receiving A Story about Toni, Mike, and Valerie, when compared to a control group.…”

“…This finding lent support for the current prospective, longitudinal study. The pilot study was conducted on small handheld computers [31]. Additionally, findings of a related study that involved tailoring the video content of A Story about Toni, Mike, and Valerie to the level of risk behavior categorized by the ACASI, indicated that there was no difference in acceptability between the large screen of a desktop or laptop to that of a small handheld computer with a 4.5 00 screen, in completing ACASI and viewing the video [59].…”