NEW YORK (Reuters Health) —Delinquent and at-risk teens who complete a brief computer-based program designed to reduce risky sexual behaviours are less likely to have sex and more likely to have sex with fewer partners, after completing the program, a new study shows. “For youths who are outside mainstream schools and who may respond poorly to didactic instruction, computers are a viable way to deliver prevention information and promote skill development,” Dr. Marguerita Lightfoot and her colleagues from the Center for Community Health at the University of California, Los Angeles conclude. The researchers investigated whether a program proven to be effective in helping teens and adults to use condoms more frequently, Project LIGHT (Living in Good Health Together), would work for at-risk teens via computer.The researchers randomly assigned 133 students at three alternative education schools to the computerised version of Project LIGHT, which lasted an hour and a half; the same intervention in small, in-person groups; or a “control” group that received no HIV prevention counselling. When the researchers followed-up with the study participants 3 months later, they found that those in the computer-based intervention group were significantly less likely to have had sex than those who participated in the small groups.