Efficacy of a Woman-Focused Intervention to Reduce HIV Risk and Increase Self-Sufficiency Among African American Crack Abusers

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.