HIV/STD risk reduction skills-building intervention for women.

This workshop provides an overview of protocol CTN-0019, “Reducing HIV/STD Risk Behaviors: A Research Study for Women in Drug Abuse Treatment,” which compared a one-session HIV health education intervention (HE) to a five session, gender-specific HIV risk reduction intervention for women in substance abuse community treatment programs (Project WORTH). The study found a significant difference in mean unprotected sexual occasions between the 5 session skills building intervention and the single-session health education session. At three months, significant decrements were observed in both groups, but at six months, while those in Project WORTH had maintained that decrement, those in health education had returned to baseline. Women in WORTH also had 29% fewer unprotected sexual occasions than those in HE. The gender-specific, skills building intervention developed by this protocol is both effective and sustainable in reducing risk behavior in women in community drug treatment programs.

Related protocols: CTN-0019