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An intervention for changing high‐risk HIV behaviors of African American drug‐dependent women
Author(s) -
Harris Ruth M.,
Bausell R. Barker,
Scott Doris E.,
Hetherington Susan E.,
Kavanagh Kathryn H.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
research in nursing and health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.836
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1098-240X
pISSN - 0160-6891
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1098-240x(199806)21:3<239::aid-nur7>3.0.co;2-i
Subject(s) - medicine , intervention (counseling) , affect (linguistics) , health education , peer education , clinical psychology , behavior change , public health , gerontology , psychology , psychiatry , nursing , communication , pathology
The purpose of this study was to test the effectiveness of an AIDS education intervention for methadone‐dependent, African American women. The women were randomly assigned to experimental ( n = 107) or control ( n = 97) group. The experimental group participated in a peer counseling and leadership training program conducted by two experienced nurse counselors over an 8‐week period, followed by 8 weeks of reinforcement. The program was designed to reduce AIDS high‐risk sexual behavior, increase self‐esteem, decrease depressive affect, and increase the women's community‐based AIDS prevention communication activities. A total of 130 women completed all phases of the study, including longitudinal Posttests at 2, 4, and 7 months after enrollment. Compared to the control group, there were statistically significant differences in three of the outcomes for the experimental group: The experimental group reported an increased number of safer sexual behaviors ( p = 0.029), showed decreases in depression ( p = 0.001), and reported engaging in more AIDS‐related, community‐based communication activities regarding prevention ( p = 0.005). © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Res Nurs Health 21:239–250, 1998