Change in AIDS risk behaviors among impoverished minority women after a community-based cognitive-behavioral outreach program

We assess the impact after two years of two randomly assigned cognitive-behavioral community-based AIDS interventions for high-risk impoverished African American (N = 353) and Latina (N = 31) women residing in homeless shelters or drug treatment facilities. We also contrast the study participants with untreated, newly recruited controls. An in-depth Specialized program provided AIDS information, and psychosocial and behavioral skill enhancement; a shorter Traditional program provided basic AIDS information. Both treatment groups received information about available community resources. At follow-up, women exposed to either program reported significant decreases from their baseline scores in unprotected sexual activity, illegal activities (providing sex for drugs or money), cocaine use, heroin use, and high risk drug-related behaviors such as sex with injection-drug users and needle-sharing. After controlling for pre-existing differences between the groups and whether they were in drug treatment, we found that the specialized group reported less cocaine use and fewer illegal activities. Further comparisons with the untreated newly-recruited control group supported findings of improvement across the two years for both treatment groups. Implications for community-based AIDS health education efforts are discussed.