Straight Talk is an adolescent sexuality and reproductive health (ASRH) programme, started in 1995 by the Kenya Association of Professional Counsellors as an information, education and communication programme that produces behaviour change communication (BCC) materials for adolescents and important adults in their lives, such as teachers and parents. The central STF materials being assessed in the study from which the below data were excerpted are: a) Parent Talk newspaper (3 issues of which had been published at the time of data collection); b) Straight Talk radio programmes (e.g., a multilingual programme for adolescents and a half-hour parent-centred weekly programme, which airs in 6 languages); and c) Straight Talk and Youth Talk newspapers. In order to assess the dose-response association between exposure to STF materials and the study outcomes, parents were classified into 4 groups: a) those not exposed to any item, b) those exposed to 1 item, c) those exposed to 2 items and d) those exposed to all 3 items. For the purpose of this study, districts receiving just the English newspapers and radio show are characterised as "low intensity", whereas those receiving the English-language papers and radio shows as well as the local language newspaper and radio show are characterised as "high intensity".

A total of 678 mothers and fathers with children between the ages of 10 and 19 years of age were interviewed in 6 districts in Uganda through a household survey. In 4 of those districts, STF has more intensive activities and are therefore termed "high intensity districts". Following training over a 4-day period, interviewers fluent in the local language administered a face-to-face questionnaire (which had been translated into 6 languages). The questionnaires were pre-tested and revised twice before data collection, which began on August 29 2005 and ended on September 7 2005.

60% of parents surveyed had been exposed to STF materials (mostly to local language STF radio shows).

Overall, there was a direct correlation between parental exposure to STF materials (residing in a high-intensity district) and the parent having talked with the child: 56% of those in high-intensity districts had had such a talk, compared to 40% of those in low-intensity districts.

About 62% of parents who had read Parent Talk (52 parents) said that they took some type of action as a result of reading Parent Talk. The most common action was to talk to other parents/friends (39%), talk with their child/children's friends (17%), recommend the magazine to someone (17%), or talk with spouse (13%).

The 55% (n=367) of parents who listened to Straight Talk radio were asked whether they had ever taken any action as a result of the exposure, and 62% said they had. For most (90%), the action comprised talking to their children.

Six true/false questions were included in a questionnaire to document the level of knowledge about HIV and AIDS among parents. There was a correlation between exposure to STF materials and the knowledge score: respondents in high STF intensity districts had a mean knowledge score of 4.4, compared to those in the low intensity district with a mean score of 3.8 (p = 0.000). There was also a relationship between the number of items a respondent had been exposed to and the mean score: those exposed to 0 items had a mean score of 3.7, those exposed to 1 item had a mean score of 4.5, those exposed to 2 items had a score of mean 4.5, and those exposed to 3 items had a mean score of 4.3 (p = 0.000).

Parents were asked whether they had been tested for HIV; 19% said they had. Those in high-intensity districts were more likely than those in low-intensity districts to have been tested (23% versus 11%; p = 0.000). There was also a strong association between HIV testing and the number of STF materials one had been exposed to: 10% of those exposed to 0 items had been tested, compared to 18% of those exposed to 1 item, 27% of those exposed to 2 items, and 33% of those exposed to 3 items (p = 0.000).