Cameroonian Preadolescents’ Perspectives of an HIV Prevention Intervention

Purpose: Determining and incorporating the perspective of the target population is important to the developments of effective and sustainable HIV prevention efforts. Cameroonian preadolescent females remain at high risk for contract-ing HIV and have not benefitted from targeted HIV prevention efforts. In this report, findings are presented from data collected from 60 Cameroonian preadolescent females; ages 10-12 years; following their completion of an HIV preven-tion intervention. Methods: The theory-based intervention utilized the World Health Organization’s Responsible Be-havior: Delaying Sex curriculum which had been tailored for the target population with the assistance of Cameroonian experts. The data reported here were collected as part of a questionnaire participants completed post-intervention. Re-sults: With only a few exceptions, participants perceived the intervention to be appropriate and relevant. No significant differences were found in participants’ assessment of the intervention across different ages and ethnic groups. Discus-sion: Evaluating the appropriateness of interventions to the developmental level, gender, and culture of participants is an essential step in developing effective and sustainable interventions. Findings in this study are encouraging and indi-cate that interventions adapted with the assistance of local experts can be perceived relevant and appropriate by par-ticipants.