UH Hilo’s SISTA Project, a national HIV prevention program adapted for local women
The national SISTA Project has been adapted for sexually-active women of Native Hawaiian, Asian, and Pacific Islander descent living in Hawai‘i.
University of Hawai’i at Hilo will hold a series of weekly training sessions on safe sex, including ethnic and gender pride, for all women in the UH Hilo and Hawai‘i Community College communities, over the next six weeks.
Women who have registered for the SISTA (Sistas Informing Sistas about Topics on AIDS) Project will begin training when sessions start on Wednesday, March 11. Registration for this free training is open to all UH Hilo and Hawai‘i Community College women, but space is limited.
Based on the national SISTA Project, which began in 1993 to help prevent HIV among African-American women, the intervention program at UH Hilo has been adapted to meet the needs of sexually-active women of Native Hawaiian, Asian, and Pacific Islander descent living in Hawai‘i. The adapted program was designed by Hawai‘i Island HIV/AIDS Foundation.
“This group-level, gender- and culturally- relevant intervention is designed to increase condom use with women in our community,” says Sulma Gandhi, director of UH Hilo Student Health and Wellness Programs. “The intervention is based on Social Learning Theory as well as the Theory of Gender and Power.”
The SISTA Project, open to women of all ages and meant to be empowering, is comprised of five peer-led group sessions. The sessions focus on ethnic and gender pride, HIV knowledge, and skills training to reduce risky sexual behaviors and to enhance decision-making.
“The outcome is to improve the effectiveness of HIV-prevention efforts, reduce HIV incidence, and ultimately increase the possibility of achieving an AIDS-free America,” Gandhi says.
The two-hour sessions will start March 11 and end April 22, with a booster session on May 6, 2015, to follow the program’s completion. One session will cover each of the following topics:
- Ethnic/Gender Pride: Learning the value of being a woman and a woman’s worth.
- HIV/AIDS Education: Learning the basics of how to prevent contracting the HIV virus and other STDs.
- Assertiveness Skills Training: Learning different types of communication and how to effectively communicate what a woman does and doesn’t want.
- Behavioral Self-Management: Learning to identify behaviors and environments that could put a woman in risky situations.
- Coping Skills: Women talking with other women about healthy ways to cope with stressful situations.
Since its start in spring 2013, 26 students at UH Hilo have completed the program.
UH Hilo junior and psychology major Jackie Yuw, peer health educator at the Student Health and Wellness Programs, says, “The SISTA Project is important to me because as a woman myself, having gone through the training, I feel like this program, along with the skills that I’ve learned and the other women that I’ve met, has empowered me and has taught me that I am a strong woman, even in times of doubt.”
The SISTA Project is facilitated by the Hawai‘i Island HIV/AIDS Foundation, a partner of the UH Hilo Student Health and Wellness Program. The project is also endorsed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as a High Impact HIV Prevention program.
About the author of this story: Kara Nelson is a senior at UH Hilo double majoring in English and Communication. She is an intern in the Office of the Chancellor and a writer for UH Hilo Stories.
