Commentary: Contextualizing Alternatives to RCTs: Measuring the Impact of a Non-Governmental Sponsorship Organization's Projects to Strengthen Children's Supportive Environments.

ChildFund International (ChildFund) is a child-focused International Non-Governmental Organization (INGO) which, since 1938, has worked with local implementing partners (LIPs), government, and other partner organizations to help create the safe environments children need to thrive. The purpose of this commentary is to reflect on the utility and possible application of the suggestions and study designs in this special issue to real-life intervention studies in dynamic context settings. The commentary provides three regional case examples with evaluation study lessons learned from ChildFund's global evaluation work. Specific insights from this issue are discussed regarding their application to effectiveness studies for projects delivered by a child-focused INGO, like ChildFund, in resource-limited settings.

Correlates of children and parents being physically active together.

BACKGROUND: Co-physical activity (between parents and children), as an outcome variable, and its correlates have not been examined previously. The purpose of this study was to investigate correlates of co-physical activity among a nationally representative sample of 9- to 13-year-old children and their parents. METHODS: Data were from the 2004 Youth Media Campaign Longitudinal Survey, a national survey of 5177 child-parent dyads. Parents of 9- to 13-year-old children were asked to report co-physical activity. Parents and children responded to a series of sociodemographic, behavioral, and psychosocial measures. Co-physical activity was treated as a dichotomous variable (ie, some or none). Logistic regression was used to assess associations of correlates directly and possible interactions between correlates. RESULTS: More than three-quarters of parents reported co-physical activity at least 1 day in the prior week. Age, race/ethnicity, sports team participation, eating meals together, parental confidence to influence the child's organized activity, and the child's perception of parental support were significantly associated with co-physical activity. CONCLUSION: The majority of respondents reported participating in co-physical activity, and multiple sociodemographic, behavioral, and psychosocial correlates were significantly associated with co-physical activity. This study provides insight for physical activity interventions that might involve parents.

The HIV/AIDS Prevention Research Synthesis Project: scope, methods, and study classification results.

In 1996, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in collaboration with many partners, initiated the HIV/AIDS Prevention Research Synthesis (PRS) project to accumulate HIV prevention research studies and analyze their effectiveness in reducing sexual and drug-related risk behaviors for HIV transmission. The PRS team developed standardized guidelines and procedures for the systematic reviews, conducted systematic searches for pertinent studies, characterized the selected studies, analyzed effectiveness data, and established a cumulative database. As of June 1998, the database contained more than 5000 reports: 4068 were reports that met the PRS scope criteria for inclusion and 586 of those reports contained outcome data from an intervention study. Of the 586 reports that included outcome data, 276 have been reviewed: 223 (81%) included measures of PRS-specified behavioral or biologic HIV-related outcomes, and 124 of the 223 (56%) used PRS-defined rigorous study designs. The PRS database is a valuable resource for accessing and integrating the literature on HIV prevention research. CDC is committed to 1) updating the database; 2) producing systematic reviews, including meta-analyses, related to key research questions; and 3) disseminating findings to encourage and facilitate the use of science-based research in preventing HIV infection.

Meta-analysis of the effects of behavioral HIV prevention interventions on the sexual risk behavior of sexually experienced adolescents in controlled studies in the United States.

To estimate the effect of behavioral and social interventions on sexual risk of HIV among sexually experienced adolescents in the United States and to assess factors associated with variation in outcomes, we selected studies from the HIV/AIDS Prevention Research Synthesis project database. Twenty studies published or reported during the years 1988 through 1998 met criteria: 16 presented sufficient data; of these, 15 evaluated behavioral interventions and 1 a social intervention. Summary odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs), weighted by study precision, indicated significantly less sex without condoms (number of studies, k, 13; OR, 0.66; CI, 0.55-0.79) and lower behavioral risk (k, 2; OR, 0.66; CI, 0.50-0.88), but no difference in number of partners (k, 8; OR, 0.89; CI, 0.76-1.05) or STDs (k, 2; OR, 1.18; CI, 0.48-2.86). A composite sexual risk behavior variable (k, 16; 1 outcome per study; preferred order, sex without condoms, number of partners, risk index) was used for heterogeneity and publication bias tests and stratified analyses. Overall, these interventions had a significant protective effect on sexually experienced adolescents (k, 16; OR, 0.65; CI, 0.50 - 0.85), although there was a suggestion of publication bias. Study design and intervention variables did not explain outcome variation. An exploratory finding may merit investigation: interventions tested with single ethnic groups out-of-class (k, 5) had larger effects than in-class interventions with mixed ethnic groups (k, 11), whether the mixed groups were in- (k, 6) or out-of class (k, 5).

A profile of U.S.-based trials of behavioral and social interventions for HIV risk reduction.

We describe 99 (experimental and certain quasi-experimental) U.S.-based trials, reported or published since 1988, of behavioral and social interventions that measured prespecified behavioral and biologic outcomes and aimed to reduce risk for HIV infection. Studies identified through June 1998 by the HIV/AIDS Prevention Research Synthesis project were grouped into 4 risk behavior areas: drug-related (k [number of studies] = 48), heterosexual youth (k = 24), heterosexual adult (k = 17), and same-sex (k = 10). We compared the studies in the 4 areas by variables key to the development, evaluation, and transfer of interventions. Participants comprised injection drug users (43% of studies), drug users out of treatment (29%), African Americans (18%), clinic patients (18%), youth in schools (10%), and drug users in treatment (10%). Most studies were randomized (85%), provided another intervention to the control or comparison groups (71%), and evaluated behavioral interventions (92%). On average, interventions were conducted in 5 sessions (total, 8 hours) during 3 months. The theoretical basis of the intervention was not noted in 57% of the reports. At least one variable from each of the 3 outcome classifications was measured in 8% of the studies: behavioral, biologic, and psychosocial. Distinct profiles exist for the 4 risk areas. Addressing gaps in research and reporting would be helpful for analytical and program activities. This sizable portfolio of evaluated interventions contributes to effectiveness reviews and to considerations of transfer to program practice.