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Efficacy of a woman-focused intervention to reduce HIV risk and increase self-sufficiency among African American crack abusers
Wechsberg, WM., Lam, WKK., Zule, WA., & Bobashev, G. (2004). Efficacy of a woman-focused intervention to reduce HIV risk and increase self-sufficiency among African American crack abusers. American Journal of Public Health, 94(7), 1165-1173. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.94.7.1165
Objectives. This study compares 3- and 6-month outcomes of a woman-focused HIV intervention for crack abusers, a revised National Institute on Drug Abuse standard intervention, and a control group.
Methods. Out-of-drug-treatment African American women (n=620) who use crack participated in a randomized field experiment. Risk behavior, employment, and housing status were assessed with linear and logistic regression.
Results. All groups significantly reduced crack use and high-risk sex at each follow-up, but only woman-focused intervention participants consistently improved employment and housing status. Compared with control subjects at 6 months, woman-focused intervention participants were least likely to engage in unprotected sex; revised standard intervention women reported greatest reductions in crack use.
Conclusions. A woman-focused intervention can successfully reduce risk and facilitate employment and housing and may effectively reduce the frequency of unprotected sex in the longer term.
