Center for Dissemination and Implementation Science.
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.
J Consult Clin Psychol. 2020 Jun;88(6):495-503. doi: 10.1037/ccp0000491. Epub 2020 Mar 5.
African American female adolescents face disparities compared with White peers in the interrelated areas of mental health symptoms and sexually transmitted infection (STI) acquisition. IMARA (Informed, Motivated, Aware and Responsible about AIDS) is a group-based mother-daughter intervention addressing these factors among African American teenagers. Previous work demonstrated that female adolescents who received IMARA were 43% less likely than controls to evidence a new STI at 1 year. This report aimed to provide the 1st test of IMARA on externalizing and internalizing symptoms and an exploratory analysis of whether symptom improvements were associated with the protective effect of treatment against future STIs.
Female African Americans aged 14-18 years ( = 16; = 199) were randomly assigned to IMARA or a health promotion control group matched for time and structure. They completed the Youth Self-Report of externalizing and internalizing symptoms at baseline and at 6 and 12 months and were tested for STIs at baseline and 12 months; positive cases were treated. Hierarchical linear modeling tested symptom change over time, including the moderating effects of baseline symptoms.
Among participants who entered with high versus lower externalizing symptoms, those who received IMARA showed a slightly greater decrease in externalizing scores relative to the control ( = .035). For these youth, symptom improvements appeared to be associated with IMARA's protective effect against new STIs. Treatment was not associated with internalizing symptom change ( > .05).
IMARA shows promise in modestly reducing self-reported externalizing symptoms, although only for participants with high scores at baseline. The possibility that externalizing symptom improvement is linked with reduced STI acquisition warrants future examination. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
与白人同龄人相比，非裔美国少女在心理健康症状和性传播感染（STI）获得方面存在差异。IMARA（对艾滋病知情、有动力、有觉悟和负责）是一种基于群体的母女干预措施，旨在解决非裔青少年的这些问题。先前的工作表明，接受 IMARA 的少女在 1 年内出现新的 STI 的可能性比对照组低 43%。本报告旨在首次测试 IMARA 对外部和内部症状的影响，并探索分析症状改善是否与治疗对未来 STIs 的保护作用有关。
14-18 岁的非裔美国女性（ = 16； = 199）被随机分配到 IMARA 或健康促进对照组，两组在时间和结构上相匹配。她们在基线、6 个月和 12 个月时完成了青少年自我报告的外部和内部症状，并在基线和 12 个月时进行了 STI 检测；阳性病例进行了治疗。分层线性模型测试了随时间变化的症状变化，包括基线症状的调节作用。
在进入时具有较高外部症状的参与者中，与对照组相比，接受 IMARA 的参与者的外部症状评分略有下降（ =.035）。对于这些青少年来说，症状改善似乎与 IMARA 对新 STIs 的保护作用有关。治疗与内部症状变化无关（ >.05）。
IMARA 显示出适度降低自我报告的外部症状的潜力，尽管仅针对基线得分较高的参与者。外部症状改善与减少 STI 获得有关的可能性值得未来进一步研究。
