A Systematic Review on Sexual Health and Drug Use Prevention Interventions for Black Girls

Abstract

Background: The relationship between drug use and poor sexual health outcomes in Black adolescent females such as diagnoses of sexually transmitted infections, HIV, and early/unwanted pregnancy has been established in the literature. Yet, very few interventions have been successful in reducing the risk of poor sexual health outcomes and drug use for adolescent girls. Even more rare are interventions that are catered to specifically to Black girls in the United States, which is a group that has the highest rates of poorer sexual health outcomes and negative consequences associated with drug use. Therefore, this systematic review sought to identify and organize interventions that are focused on preventing HIV, STIs, early pregnancy and drug use for and include large samples of Black girls. Fifteen interventions were identified that met the review’s search criteria. Results: A total of 15 interventions that were published between 2005 and 2020 were included in the review. While all but one intervention focused on sexual health outcomes, two interventions infused drug use education for girls. Conclusion: This review provides recommendations for sexual health and drug use prevention researchers to engage in an intersectional framework and concludes with a summary of next steps to guide future research and policy work to address disparities that impact Black girls.

Black Adolescent Females’ Perceptions of PrEP for HIV Risk Reduction

“…18,19 Given that Black adolescent females are exposed to unique risk factors for HIV that may differ from other ethnic minority adolescent females and are different from adolescent boys and men, marketing campaigns have to take such nuances into consideration when introducing the benefits of PrEP to Black adolescent females. 20 Social media platforms may also offer a convenient way to reach Black adolescent females. However, a review of social media campaigns to increase PrEP awareness and uptake found that Black adolescent females were underrepresented compared to young Black MSM.…”

Addressing Gendered Racism Against Black Girls Using a Strengths-Based Empowerment-Intersectional Framework for Sexual Health and Substance Use Prevention Programming

“…An intervention utilizing the integrated empowerment-intersectionality framework would work alongside the developing of concepts of racial identity to include racial and gendered socialization activities through education, discussion, and experiential learning activities. Examples include reading excerpts from books and poetry from Black women figures that focus on the empowerment narrative such as bell hooks or Toni Morrison, which has been implemented in more recent interventions for adolescent girls (Opara et al, 2022b). Discussion topics would include journaling about positive and negative representations of Black women seen in the media and how this impacts esteem development.…”

Pilot-testing a Multiplayer HIV and Sexually Transmitted Infection Prevention Video Game Intervention for Black Adolescent Girls: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial

“…A recent systematic review noted that many existing sexual health promotion interventions for Black youth are not specifically tailored for Black adolescent girls or made to account for their unique experiences because of the intersection of race and gender [ 9 ]. Because increased knowledge about HIV and HIV prevention strategies is associated with protective sexual behaviors such as condom use and HIV testing among adolescents of color [ 10 , 11 ], there exists a critical need for the development of more interventions specifically designed for Black adolescent girls that increase the knowledge about HIV and STI prevention and emphasize resisting and challenging gendered-racist stereotypes [ 12 ].…”

“…Because increased knowledge about HIV and HIV prevention strategies is associated with protective sexual behaviors such as condom use and HIV testing among adolescents of color [ 10 , 11 ], there exists a critical need for the development of more interventions specifically designed for Black adolescent girls that increase the knowledge about HIV and STI prevention and emphasize resisting and challenging gendered-racist stereotypes [ 12 ]. Although the recent systematic review identified 15 effective HIV and STI prevention programs that have been used with Black adolescent girls, only 4 were created specifically for this population [ 9 ]. In addition, challenges regarding implementation and fidelity of interventions have been a concern.…”