Reducing the Risk of HIV Among Adolescent Girls :: essays research papers

According to the CDC, the majority of female adolescents will have had at least one sexual partner by the time they reach the age of 18. Once reserved for high school students, sex ed is now being introduced in junior high and steady elementary schools. It is undeniable that our teenagers are becoming sexually active earlier and inevitably, are vulnerable to sexually transmitted infections and HIV. While it is impossible to alter the choices of sexually active teens once they have been made, it is a mandate for those who interact with them to equip teens with the proper resources to make smart choices and offer suggestions to modify risky behavior.The aim of this concomitant study was two-fold. First, the authors studied the possibility and practicality of reducing the HIV risk among adolescent girls through the utilization of a small group, community-based setting. Secondly, the effectiveness and usefulness of such an intercession was determined and further analyzed using a cont rolled design. In the examination of statistical conclusion validity pertaining to this study, one curse that is imperative for the reader to argue lies in the low statistical power of the study. With 129 girls recruited, less than half (62) attended either the HIV or control intervention groups with only 48 end the three month follow up session. Polit and Beck states that studies with low statistical power may not succeed in establishing a relationship amid the variables. As a pilot study, it is hardly dismissive and worth noting that, at best, a relationship may be present or could be present between the two variables, however, the low statistical power causes me to hesitate to assign an irrefutable relationship between the intervention group and reduced risk behavior as demonst rolld by the behavioral changes (decreased substance abuse, increased knowledge on HIV prevention, fewer engagement in risky sexual behavior). The authors acknowledged this threat to the statistical co nclusion validity but also noted that outcomes were encouraging. Attrition presents a threat to both statistical conclusion and internal validity. In the aforementioned statistics, it is obvious to deduce that attrition was a direct result of the unavailability of many girls, which consequently resulted in low statistical power. The attrition rate in this study can be considered random as it was blamed on work schedules and inability to form contact and did not alter irreverent characteristics of those remaining in the study.