Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2011 Aug;26(4):653-63.
doi: 10.1093/her/cyr024. Epub 2011 Apr 21.

Impact of HealthWise South Africa on polydrug use and high-risk sexual behavior

Melissa K Tibbits  1 , Edward A Smith, Linda L Caldwell, Alan J Flisher
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Impact of HealthWise South Africa on polydrug use and high-risk sexual behavior

Melissa K Tibbits et al. Health Educ Res. 2011 Aug.

Abstract

This study was designed to evaluate the efficacy of the HealthWise South Africa HIV and substance abuse prevention program at impacting adolescents' polydrug use and sexual risk behaviors. HealthWise is a school-based intervention designed to promote social-emotional skills, increase knowledge and refusal skills relevant to substance use and sexual behaviors, and encourage healthy free time activities. Four intervention schools in one township near Cape Town, South Africa were matched to five comparison schools (N = 4040). The sample included equal numbers of male and female participants (Mean age = 14.0). Multiple regression was used to assess the impact of HealthWise on the outcomes of interest. Findings suggest that among virgins at baseline (beginning of eighth grade) who had sex by Wave 5 (beginning of 10th grade), HealthWise youth were less likely than comparison youth to engage in two or more risk behaviors at last sex. Additionally, HealthWise was effective at slowing the onset of frequent polydrug use among non-users at baseline and slowing the increase in this outcome among all participants. Program effects were not found for lifetime sexual activity, condomless sex refusal and past-month polydrug use. These findings suggest that HealthWise is a promising approach to HIV and substance abuse prevention.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Percentage of virgins at baseline who became sexually active by Wave 5 and engaged in two or more risk behaviors at last sex.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Shisana O, Rehle T, Simbayi LC, et al. South African National Prevalence, Incidence, Behaviour, and Communication Survey 2008: A Turning Tide Among Teenagers? Cape Town, South Africa: HSRC Press; 2009.
    1. Plüddemann A, Flisher AJ, Mathews C, et al. Adolescent methamphetamine use and sexual risk behaviour in secondary school students in Cape Town, South Africa. Drug Alcohol Rev. 2008;29:1–6. - PubMed
    1. Pitkanen T, Lyyra A-L, Pulkkinen L. Age of onset of drinking and the use of alcohol in adulthood: a follow-up study from age 8-42 for females and males. Addiction. 2005;100:652–61. - PubMed
    1. Bonomo YA, Bowes G, Coffey C, et al. Teenage drinking and the onset of alcohol dependence: a cohort study over seven years. Addiction. 2004;99:1520–8. - PubMed
    1. Guo J, Chung I-J, Hill KG, et al. Developmental relationships between adolescent substance use and risky sexual behavior in young adulthood. J Adolesc Health. 2002;31:354–62. - PubMed

Publication types