Challenges and New Directions in the Rural Setting

Abstract

Although frequently not perceived as a rural problem, the prevalence of Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS) has been increasing in rural settings. Since the emergence of the AIDS epidemic in the United States, researchers and clinicians have been concerned about behaviors placing adolescent populations at risk for acquiring HIV and have sought to develop effective intervention programs. To date, most of these programs have targeted urban or suburban settings. Assessing the applicability of current adolescent risk reduction interventions in new settings is essential to the successful deployment of intervention programs on a wide scale basis. Previous rural research has identified factors suggesting that programs originally developed for urban areas may need to be altered to be applicable to rural settings. As part of our effort to adopt an urban adolescent HIV prevention program entitled “Focus on Kids” to a low-income rural setting, we explored the interpla...