Adapting an Evidence-Based HIV Intervention for At-Risk African American College Women at Historically Black Colleges and Universities Who Use Alcohol and Drugs

The convergence of the high prevalence of HIV incidence amongAfrican American adolescent and adult women along with substance use and risky sexualbehavior among university students necessitates the development of a HIV interventionspecifically addressing culture, gender, and college factors for female African Americanuniversity students. The woman-focused HIV intervention was chosen for adaptationbecause it has been shown to be efficacious with reducing risk for African Americanwomen who use alcohol and drugs, and has been successfully adapted 7 times. The targetpopulation was African American college women enrolled at a historically Blackuniversity who use alcohol and other drugs, and who engaged in risky sex behaviors. Tounderstand and assess the needs of this population, we conducted four focus groups withAfrican American college women, two in-depth interviews with faculty, and a combinationof in-depth interviews and focus groups with student affairs and health staff that wereanalyzed using content analysis. From this analysis, several themes emerged that wereused to adapt the intervention. Emerging themes included challenges related to identityand societal stereotypes, lack of knowledge about sexual health (i.e., negotiating safersex) and the function of female and male anatomies, high incidents of pregnancy,negative consequences related to alcohol and marijuana use, and the need to incorporatetestimonies from college students, media enhancements, and role-plays to conveyintervention messages. After the preliminary adaptation, 11 college women reviewed theadapted intervention and provided positive feedback. Plans for future research arediscussed