The evidence-base and theoretical frameworks for mass media HIV-prevention campaigns in the U.S. are not well developed. In this paper we describe an intervention approach using culturally-sensitive mass media messages to enhance protective beliefs and behavior of African-American adolescents at-risk for HIV. This approach exploits the potential that mass media messages have, not only to reach a large segment of the adolescent population and thereby support normative change, but also to engage the most vulnerable segments of this audience to reduce HIV-associated risk behaviors. We illustrate the effectiveness of this intervention approach with results from an ongoing HIV-prevention trial implemented in two medium sized cities in the U.S.

We explored the feasibility of engaging young black men in a 12-week text messaging programme about HIV prevention. There were two non-randomized groups of 30 young men each. The participants were aged 16-20 years, self-identifying as black or African-American, sexually active, who owned a mobile phone and lived in Philadelphia. They received three text messages per week for 12 weeks. People in the intervention group received text messages about HIV prevention, while those in the control group received text messages about nutrition. The intervention participants showed trends in increased monogamy at follow-up compared to controls. Awareness of sexual health was significantly higher in the intervention group. Condom norms were significantly higher for the control group. There were no differences in the proportion of protected sex acts. The participants embraced the project, and were enrolled and retained in numbers that suggest such an intervention is worth examining for efficacy.

This article describes the formative research and campaign development for a pilot study to test the feasibility of using cell phone text messaging to promote HIV prevention for young African-American men. We conducted six focus groups with Black men aged 16-20 (N=43) in order to obtain feedback on the campaign content and how best to convey sexual health information via text message using cell phones. We present three main findings: (1) the participants' ideas for conducting this research and how to structure our campaign design; (2) how we broadened our theoretical perspective from an individual focus to an empowerment and social capital focus in order to best communicate a culturally relevant program; and (3) the young adult's specific suggestions for how best to operationalize theoretical constructs related to empowerment and social capital. We found that young Black men were receptive to the idea of receiving text messages for an HIV prevention campaign. As technology proliferates, this work offers specific ideas for how to capitalize on new technological modalities to deliver important communications on prevention.