Effects of a Sexual Risk-Reduction Intervention for Teenagers: A Cluster-Randomized Control Trial.

This study evaluated the efficacy of the COMPAS program in the short term and 6 months after its application. For the initial sample, 2047 teenagers aged 14-19 years from 14 schools in 11 Colombian cities participated; eight schools were randomly assigned to the experimental condition and six to the control group. The participants completed self-report assessments that evaluated several variables theoretically associated with protective sexual behaviors. In the short term, the experimental group showed increased knowledge about HIV and other STIs, sexual assertiveness, self-efficacy, greater behavioral intention toward condom use, and more favorable attitudes toward HIV and condom use than the control group. After 6 months, most psychological and health variables also showed a significant positive change. In conclusion, the COMPAS program is the first school-based sexuality education program that has been shown to be effective in reducing mediating and behavioral variables associated with sexual risk reduction in Colombia.

RESUMEN: Este estudio evaluó la eficacia del programa COMPAS a corto plazo y a 6 meses después de la aplicación. Para la muestra inicial participaron 2.047 adolescentes de 14 a 19 años provenientes de 12 escuelas en 11 ciudades colombianas; 8 escuelas fueron aleatoriamente asignadas a la condición experimental y 6 al grupo control. Los participantes completaron autoinformes sobre variables teóricamente asociadas con comportamientos sexuales de protección. A corto plazo, el grupo experimental mostró un mayor conocimiento sobre ITS, asertividad sexual, autoeficacia e intención conductual hacia el uso del condón y actitudes más favorables hacia el VIH que el grupo de control. Después de seis meses, la mayoría de las variables psicológicas y de salud también mostraron un cambio positivo. En conclusión, el programa COMPAS es el primer programa de educación sexual que ha demostrado ser efectivo para reducir las variables mediadoras y conductuales asociadas con la reducción del riesgo sexual en Colombia.

Women Facing Psychological Abuse: How Do They Respond to Maternal Identity Humiliation and Body Shaming?

This research analyzes the decisions made by women facing simulated situations of psychological abuse. Seventy-three women (36.9 ± 13.6 years) who had been victims of domestic violence participated. The analysis was based on their coping strategies, early maladaptive schemes, and their decisions in response to vignettes describing the following domestic violence situations: humiliation to women's maternal identity with children as witnesses and body shaming. We used Student's t and Mann-Whitney tests to compare the results between groups. The participants presented some coping strategies (social support seeking, wishful thinking, and professional support seeking) and several early maladaptive schemes (emotional deprivation, defectiveness/shame, social isolation/alienation, failure to achieve, attachment, and subjugation) associated with their reactions facing a situation of humiliation with children as witnesses. When the humiliation was against the body image, their reactions were associated with some coping strategies (wishful thinking, professional support seeking, autonomy, negative auto-focus coping, and positive reappraisal) and one maladaptive scheme (defectiveness/shame). Women who reacted avoidantly showed higher social and professional support seeking but experienced higher indicators of discomfort and deterioration of self-esteem than those who opted for assertive decisions. The presence of children as witnesses seems to be a factor of stress in the configuration of coping strategies and maladaptive schemes in female victims of domestic violence. The evolution of early maladaptive schemes and coping strategies requires observation to avoid the risk of isolation and permanence in victimizing relationships.

Colombian Adaptation of the HIV and Other Sexually Transmitted Infections Knowledge Scale (KSI) in an Adolescent Population.

Colombia has one of the highest rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and teenage pregnancies among Latin American countries. Knowledge about HIV/AIDS and other STIs has been identified as a factor in promoting healthy sexual behavior. The HIV and Other Sexually Transmitted Infections Knowledge Scale (KSI) is an instrument created in Spain to assess sexual health knowledge in adolescents. In view of the lack of scales that measure this construct in Colombia, this study aims to culturally adapt and validate the KSI for the Colombian adolescent population. The sample was comprised of 866 adolescent school children (458 females and 408 males) aged between 14 and 19 years (M = 15.97, SD = 1.36) from 12 schools in the cities of Bogotá (n = 467) and Barranquilla (n = 400). Results showed good item psychometric properties and adequate discrimination and difficulty indices. Factorial analysis confirmed a five-dimensional factor structure. The indicators of validity showed significant correlations with constructs related on theoretical grounds. In sum, the study presents a valid and reliable scale for evaluating knowledge about HIV and other STIs in Colombian adolescent population.

A text mining approach for adapting a school-based sexual health promotion program in Colombia.

A common practice among clinical psychologists and other health professionals is the use of school-based sexual health promotion programs as a means for preventing sexually transmitted infections. A fundamental criterion for the designing and adaptation of these programs is the age of their target populations because limited education and language are the most relevant factors that limit the efficacy of these programs. The contribution of this paper consists of assessing both the readability of the written materials that accompany the contents of a Spanish-written school-based sexual health promotion program used in Colombia, as well as the words co-occurrence network structure of its contents. The readability of the evaluated program corresponded to its intended target population aged between 14 and 19, with the schooling of 9-13 years of education. The resulting words co-occurrence network structure of the COMPAS program also mirrored its theoretical content. These results all together are deemed as empirical evidence of the adequacy of the program.

Sexual risk among Colombian adolescents: knowledge, attitudes, normative beliefs, perceived control, intention, and sexual behavior.

BACKGROUND: Colombia has one of the highest rates of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and pregnancies - both of which are influenced by lack of condom use -, among adolescent population in Latin America; however, the mechanisms underlying the inconsistent use of condoms in this population are poorly understood. This descriptive and cross-sectional study's purpose was to examine sexual behavior and its precursors using the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and considering gender-based differences. Another objective was to study the mediating effect of intention in the relationship between behavior precursors and condom use based on the TPB. METHODS: We recruited 1100 adolescents aged between 14 and 19 years old (M = 15.94, SD = 1.30, 54.4% female) from Bogotá and Barranquilla, two of the cities with highest adolescent birth rates among adolescents in Colombia. Sociodemographic variables, knowledge on HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs), HIV/AIDS-related attitudes, including attitudes toward the use of condoms, normative beliefs, perceived behavioral control, behavioral intention, and sexual behavior were assessed using self-reports. All analyses were run using SPSS v25. The indirect effect of intention to explain the relationship between precursors and the use of condoms during sexual intercourse was estimated using the PROCESS v3 macro. RESULTS: Descriptive analyses suggest a high risk of contracting sexually transmitted infections and unplanned pregnancies associated to inconsistent condom use, medium-low level of knowledge about sexual health, low normative beliefs regarding peers' condom use, and a certain perceived difficulty for using condoms. Condoms are used 71% of the times they have sex, but only 22% of the participants use them consistently; girls use condoms more consistently than boys. Sexual risk characteristics differed significantly by gender. Mediation analyses indicated that condom use intention mediates the relationship between behavioral precursors and frequency of condom use, according to the TPB. CONCLUSIONS: Findings provide a better understanding of sexual risk and highlight important implications for the sexual and reproductive health of adolescents. There is a need of designing and implementing protocolized sexual health promotion programs in schools with the aim of reducing sexual risk behaviors in Colombian adolescents.

Cognitive profile and Prevalence of Depression, Hopelessness and Suicide Risk in Youth Linked to the first level of Military Training School / Perfil cognitivo y prevalência de depresión, desesperanza y riesgo suicida en jóvenes vinculados al primer nivel de formación en una escuela militar colombiana

Resumen Este estudio evaluó el perfil cognitivo y los niveles de desesperanza, depresión y riesgo suicida en un grupo de jóvenes vinculados al proceso de formación de una escuela militar colombiana. En total participaron 114 sujetos, militares regulares de primer año (MR-1A), que representan la totalidad de un contingente particular; todos ellos hombres, con edades entre los diecisiete y los veintidós años, provenientes de hogares ubicados en la región Caribe (41%) y el centro del país (12%), sin ningún tipo de diagnóstico médico o mental relevante. Los resultados indican relaciones lineales y directamente promocionales entre todas las variables, con magnitudes significativas en lo referente a las relaciones depresión-desesperanza (rs= 0,295; ρ = 0,01) y depresión-riesgo suicida (rs= 0,478; ρ = 0,01), siendo esta ultima el reporte más elevado.

Abstract This study evaluated the cognitive profile and the levels of Hopelessness, Depression and Suicide Risk in a youth group linked to the process of forming a Colombian military school. A total of 114 subjects participated, regular military freshman, which representing an entire contingent particular; all male, aged between 17 and 22 years, from households in the Caribbean region (41%) and the center of the country (12%), without any relevant medical or mental diagnosis. The results indicate linear and directly promotional relationships between all variables with significant quantities in relation to depression-hopelessness (rs= 0,295; ρ = 0,01) and depression-suicide risk (rs= 0,478; ρ = 0,01) the latter being the highest report.