It's Your Game, 1 Yr License
It’s Your Game…Keep It Real (IYG) is a classroom- and computer-based HIV, STI and pregnancy prevention program for middle school students. This abstinence-plus program has been proven to delay sexual behaviors among adolescents, and is a fun and effective way to teach teens about their bodies, personal relationships, personal rules and sex, while giving them the skills to grow into safe, responsible young adults. It integrates group-based classroom activities, such as roleplays, discussions and small-group work, with personalized journaling and individually tailored computer-based activities to help young people delay sex, develop positive attitudes toward abstinence, gain greater self-efficacy for refusing sex, and increase their knowledge about condom and contraceptive use.
It’s Your Game... Keep It Real consists of twelve 50-minute lessons (eight delivered in class and four delivered via computer) at seventh grade, and twelve 50-minute lessons (seven delivered in class and five delivered via computer) at eighth grade. The intervention is designed to be provided to the same seventh and eighth graders over a 2-year period (i.e., the same students receive up to 24 lessons over 2 years).
In each grade, the curriculum integrates group-based classroom activities with personalized journaling and individually tailored computer-based activities. A life-skills decision-making paradigm (Select, Detect, Protect) underlies the activities, teaching students to select personal rules regarding risk behaviors, detect signs or situations that might challenge these rules, and use refusal skills and other tactics to protect these rules. Abstinence is the primary focus and is encouraged over any other behavior.
The classroom curriculum also includes three parent-child homework activities at each grade level designed to facilitate dialogue on topics such as friendships, dating, and sexual behavior. The curriculum is grounded in social cognitive theory, the theory of triadic influence, and social influence models.
The computer-based activities included in the curriculum cover the following topics:
- Knowing Your Body: These activities are designed to teach students about the physiological and psychological changes that occur during puberty as well as about reproductive anatomy and the biology behind reproduction.
- Healthy Friendships and Healthy Relationships: These activities are designed to teach students about the importance of social support and building healthy friendships and relationships. Students learn how to differentiate between qualities that are unhealthy and healthy.
- Selecting, Detecting and Protecting Your Rules: These activities are designed to teach students about playing by their own rules. Students learn how to select personal rules, detect situations or people that may challenge their rules, and protect their rules when their rules are threatened.
- Consequences of Sex: These activities are designed to teach students about the emotional, physical and social consequences of having sex, getting HIV or another STI, or becoming pregnant.
- Risk Reduction Strategies: These activities are designed to teach students about strategies they can use to protect themselves if they choose to have sex. Students learn about the importance of getting tested, the steps of proper condom use and the effectiveness of various contraceptive methods.
The curriculum was designed to be implemented in a school classroom with seventh and eighth graders in an urban setting.
