ORIGINAL PAPER What Works Well in HIV Prevention Among Spanish Young People? An Analysis of Differential Effectiveness Among Six Intervention Techniques Rafael Ballester-Arnal • Marı ´a Dolores Gil-Llario • Cristina Gime ´nez-Garcı ´a • Setch C. Kalichman Ó Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014 Abstract The AIDS epidemic remains a concern of public health among young people and adolescents. Pre- vention programs have revealed diverse deficiencies to attain their main goal: preventing risky behaviors. This experimental study evaluates the differential effectiveness of six intervention techniques for preventing HIV/AIDS based on informational-motivational-behavioral Model (talk, website, attitudinal discussion, participation of a seropositive person, fear induction and role play). 239 Spanish young people took part in an experimental design to evaluate six intervention techniques and a non-inter- vention condition, through changes in their knowledge, attitudes and protective sex behavior. Our findings support a general effectiveness of preventive intervention tech- niques comparing non-intervention. In particular, the motivational techniques reveal more effectiveness for these Spanish young people. Therefore, it is required identifying a differential impact of the intervention techniques when implementing HIV behavioral interventions. Resumen La epidemia del VIH todavı ´a supone un problema de salud pu ´blica entre la poblacio ´n joven y ad- olescente. Los programas de prevencio ´n han revelado diversas deficiencias para conseguir su objetivo: prevenir las conductas de riesgo. Este estudio experimental evalu ´a la eficacia diferencial de seis te ´cnicas de intervencio ´n para prevenir el VIH-Sida, basados en el Modelo Informacio ´n- Motivacio ´n-Conducta (charla, web, discusio ´n actitudinal, participacio ´n de una persona seropositiva, induccio ´n del miedo y juego de roles). 239 jo ´venes espan ˜oles participa- ron en un disen ˜o experimental para evaluar seis te ´cnicas de intervencio ´n y una condicio ´n de no intervencio ´n, mediante cambios en su conocimiento, actitudes y conducta sexual segura. Nuestros hallazgos apoyan la efectividad general de las te ´cnicas de intervencio ´n preventivas frente a la no in- tervencio ´n. En particular, las te ´cnicas motivacionales rev- elan ma ´s efectividad para este tipo de jo ´venes. Ası ´ pues, parece necesario identificar el impacto diferencial de las te ´cnicas de intervencio ´n cuando son implementadas. Keywords Effectiveness Á HIV/AIDS prevention Á Young people Á Evaluation Á Intervention technique Introduction HIV-AIDS is affecting young people disproportionately. Around the world, 39 % of new HIV infections occurred among young people in 2012 [1]. In Europe, the impact of HIV remains a major public health concern and the rate of new HIV infections related to sex behavior continues to rise [2]. However, there are many differences among European countries [3]. For example, Spain exceeds the regional average in HIV prevalence, 94 % of new infec- tions are related to sexual transmission, approximately R. Ballester-Arnal (&) Á C. Gime ´nez-Garcı ´a Departamento de Psicologı ´a Ba ´sica, Clı ´nica y Psicobiologı ´a, Universitat Jaume I, Avda. Vicent Sos Baynat s/n, 12071 Castello ´n de la Plana, Spain e-mail: rballest@uji.es C. Gime ´nez-Garcı ´a e-mail: gimenezc@uji.es M. D. Gil-Llario Departmento de Psicologia Evolutiva y de la Educacio ´n, Universitat de Vale `ncia, Estudi General, Valencia, Spain e-mail: dolores.gil@uv.es S. C. Kalichman Department of Psychology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA e-mail: seth.k@uconn.edu 123 AIDS Behav DOI 10.1007/s10461-014-0863-3