Date of Award

5-9-2016

Degree Type

Evidence-Based Project Report

Degree Name

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)

Department

Nursing

First Advisor

Amy C. Cory

Abstract

Historically, African Americans and Hispanics in the United States have been disproportionately affected by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), as compared with non-Hispanic whites. Females continue to outnumber males with these diagnoses. Women are generally at greater risk of acquiring HIV and other STDs than men because the female genital tract is more prone to injury and infection resulting from high-risk heterosexual contact (Crepaz et al., 2009). The purpose of the evidence based project was to implement and evaluate an educational intervention for the prevention of HIV and STDs. The Health Belief Model (HBM) was used as the theoretical foundation, along with a systematic approach to establish an educational intervention for STD prevention. This program was introduced to a federally qualified health clinic located in Northwest Indiana. To determine if the program was effective, participants were given a pre-intervention survey that measured STD knowledge, attitude toward condom use, and sexual assertiveness. An educational intervention was provided immediately after the survey, and a post-intervention survey was given 10 weeks later. Paired samples t tests were calculated to compare the mean pre-intervention total score to the mean post-intervention total score. The mean pre-intervention score was 2.35 (SD = 0.44), and the mean post-intervention score was 2.56 (SD = 0.27). An increase in knowledge occurred as evidenced by the higher mean post-intervention score. However, the difference between pre-intervention and post-intervention scores of knowledge were not statistically significant (t (7) = -1.407, p >.05). Results demonstrated that brief STD educational programs can be beneficial in this population. This project is being considered as part of an ongoing educational series in the clinic.

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