An Hiv/Methamphetamine Intervention Program For At-Risk Minority Youth: The Wheel Club (Wholistic Health Education And Empowerment For Life).

The Storytelling for Empowerment program was designed to use both the risk and resiliency models; this was established by using a positive peer group, by teaching a positive cultural identity, and by including storytelling and art for emotional expression. An emphasis on the curriculum was cultural identity using stories to transmit cultural values and identity. The program is delivered by youth workers during school lunches and after school programs. Quasi experimental design analyses have demonstrated the WHEEL program:
1) increases participants’ knowledge about the biological effects of HIV and substance use (including alcohol, nicotine, methamphetamine, and inhalants),
2) increases perceptions of the range of social contexts which may surround or facilitate unprotected sexual behavior or substance use,
3) increases scores on perceived risk of drug use, and
4) increases perceptions that youth can implement self-protective behavior in their social lives.

In this presentation, we outline the WHEEL curriculum, detail the structured activities (based on multiple epistemologies ), and provide efficacy data on intervention effectiveness. This project was funded by SAMHSA/CSAP and is listed by the US government in the National Registry of Effective Prevention Programs.