Impact of an HIV Intervention for Adolescent Males Leaving Jail (REAL MEN)
Re-entry to the community from jail can be a difficult time. It can also be a time when
young people are likely to engage in sexual or drug behaviors that put them at risk for
HIV/AIDS. For some young men, many of them still adolescents, these risk-behaviors exist
within a context of racial and ethnic oppression and within a definition of masculinity premised
on violence and risk-taking. Thus, re-entry can be an opportune time to challenge old ways of
thinking and offer new alternatives. Recognizing that HIV-risk behaviors are contextual, it is
crucial that health interventions address more than just isolated behaviors. Designed with an
innovative approach that offers a pathway to racial and ethnic pride and a healthier definition of
masculinity, the program was developed specifically for adolescent males who are returning to
their communities after serving sentences in New York City jails.
We have partnerships with two organizations that make the work of REAL MEN
possible. Our community-based partner in this project is Friends of Island Academy. Our
community workshops are conducted at their site in Manhattan, and Friends provides REAL
MEN participants and other young people coming home from jail with education, employment
and counseling services. Follow-up interviews for the study are being administered by our
research partners at the Center for Urban Epidemiologic Studies (CUES), a part of the New York
Academy of Medicine.
Principal Investigator:
Nicholas Freudenberg, Ph.D.
Project Director:
Jessie Daniels, Ph.D.
Funder:
National Institute on Drug Abuse