African American Women

Lowcountry AIDS Services has successfully implemented the "Sister Informing Sisters about Topics on AIDS", or "SISTA". The SISTA project targets young African American women through an intensive peer to peer prevention education program. The program consists of five weekly 2-hour sessions. The concept is to have older siblings teach their young sisters about the potential negative consequences of sexual activity and how they can be avoided by abstinence or safe sex practices. Listed below are the Session Subject Matter and the Goals to be achieved.

Session 1: Ethnic/Gender Pride
Goal: Generate a discussion about being African American and female, having pride in oneself, and valuing oneself.

Session 2: HIV/AIDS Education
Goal: Provide factual and statistical information on HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, correct misconceptions about HIV/AIDS, and discuss the importance of protecting oneself.

Session 3: Assertiveness Skills Training
Goal: Teach the distinction among assertive, aggressive, and nonassertive behaviors; and teach skills to initiate assertiveness.

Session 4: Behavioral Self-Management
Goal: Decrease participants' anxiety about condom use, demonstrate and role-play how to use condoms, and discuss reasons that women do not insist on using condoms.

Session 5: Coping Skills
Goal: Initiate discussion about coping with life experiences: the link between alcohol and AIDS, coping with alcohol and sex, and coping with negative responses. This session also serves as a review of the previous sessions.

LAS prevention programs reaches over 200,000 individuals per year with information provided to print media, radio, TV, Health Fairs as well as community presentations to churches and schools.