CDC Funded Program Aimed At Reducing Risks of HIV Infection and Other Health Problems For Gay Youth
WASHINGTON — The American Psychological Association (APA), with funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is initiating a new program to help schools provide health programs for lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth. The Healthy Schools Project for Lesbian and Gay Students (HSP) seeks to reduce risks of HIV infection, sexually transmitted diseases, and other important health problems of these youth.
The program's goals are to help meet the needs of gay, lesbian, and bisexual youth by increasing the health assessment skills of school counseling, psychological, and health services professionals. It will also develop models of effective HIV prevention curricula. An additional goal will be to give teachers, administrators, and parents information about improving a safe school climate for gay, lesbian and bisexual youth. At the present time many such students are the victims of verbal and physical abuse at school.
"Schools are a nearly universal setting for adolescents, and are a key setting for providing services to gay, lesbian and bisexual youth, and to other young people who engage in or desire same-sex sexual behavior," according to Clinton W. Anderson, Healthy Schools Project Co-Director and APA's Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Concerns Officer. "Evidence suggests, however, that most school professionals lack training and skills for addressing the counseling, psychological, and health services needs of these youth. This project will equip school health and mental health professionals with appropriate information to address the needs of these youth." HSP Co-Director Karen Anderson, Ph.D., adds that "these resources must include information about the larger context of human sexuality as a whole and sexual orientation as one aspect of human sexuality." Dr. Anderson is also Director of the APA Center for Psychology in Schools and Education and Assistant Executive Director of APA's Education Directorate.
The development of informational materials will proceed in several phases. During the first year, Healthy Schools Project staff will focus on establishing and building relationships with school stakeholders organizations (teachers, administrators, parents, etc.), and in engaging their interest in working with the HSP to develop and disseminate informational materials for their membership. During years two and three, the project will focus on assessing the informational needs of the members of the school stakeholder organizations and on developing appropriate materials. For years four and five, activities include the school stakeholder organizations widely disseminating the materials to their members. Efforts will include mailings as well as workshops and continuing education programs at the national conferences of these organizations.
The APA has extensive experience in working on issues (including HIV/AIDS prevention) related to gay, lesbian, and bisexual youth; in collaborating with other national organizations on these issues; and in training professionals and volunteers to address the needs of high-risk populations. APA first began to identify the needs of lesbian and gay youths in schools in 1990 when a joint effort of APA and the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) was initiated.
The American Psychological Association (APA), in Washington, DC, is the largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States and is the world’s largest association of psychologists. APA’s membership includes more than 159,000 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. Through its divisions in 50 subfields of psychology and affiliations with 58 state, territorial and Canadian provincial associations, APA works to advance psychology as a science, as a profession and as a means of promoting human welfare.
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