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Elaine Schmidt ([email protected]) (310) 794-2272
UCLA Study Shows AIDS-Intervention ProgramsCurb Risky Sex and Drug Use by HIV-Positive Youth
Think teen-agers are only interested in sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll? Not so, shows the latest UCLA study, which found that HIV-infected youth participating in an AIDS-intervention program willingly cut their high-risk sex by 82 percent and lowered their drug use by a third.
Reported in the March edition of the American Journal of Public Health, the findings offer hope for curtailing the spread of AIDS among infected young people, who make up 50 percent of all HIV cases worldwide.
"The dramatic changes in these young people's behavior impressed us," explained Mary Jane Rotheram-Borus, UCLA professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences. "Before their diagnosis as HIV-positive, they regularly had sex with multiple partners and used drugs. After participating in our program, they used condoms 78 percent more often and cut drug use by 31 percent.
"Our findings prove that kids can and do change a lot," added Rotheram-Borus, the study's principal investigator.
Funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the study examined the behavior of the largest sample of HIV-positive youth in the nation. The researchers aimed to help participants maintain emotional well- being, take responsibility for their health, and reduce risky sex and drug use.
UCLA researchers designed a 23-session intervention program and handbook for HIV-positive youth receiving medical care at nine clinics in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Miami. The study recruited a group of 310 ethnically diverse young men and women aged 13 to 24. Half the youth participated in the program, and half were assigned to a control group.
Researchers conducted the six-month intervention program from 1994 to 1996 - before protease inhibitors and antiretroviral drugs to fight HIV progression entered the market.
As a result, the program's first section, called "Stay Healthy," devoted 12 sessions to helping the youth adopt behaviors to fight their disease. The youngsters were introduced to new daily routines to stay healthy and learned how to cope with their HIV status, disclosure issues and medical decision-making.
The second section, called "Act Safe," focused on preventing transmission of the youths' infection to other people. Over 11 sessions, participants learned how to identify what triggered their drug-taking - such as romantic breakups, parental conflict and peer pressure. They also learned how to modify their drug-use patterns and improve their ability to negotiate condom use with a sex partner.
The Act Safe module showed dramatic results across the study sample. Compared to those in the control group, Act Safe participants reported 82 percent fewer acts of unprotected sex, 50 percent fewer HIV- negative sex partners, 45 percent fewer sex partners overall, and 31 percent less drug use.
In comparison, the Stay Healthy unit produced particularly strong results in the young women who participated in the program. They adopted 46 percent more positive lifestyle changes - such as exercise, eating a balanced diet, taking vitamins and getting adequate sleep - than their counterparts in the control group. They also improved their coping skills 18 percent more than young women in the control group.
Overall, young men and women who attended the Stay Healthy module showed an 11 percent improvement in social support and coping skills over their counterparts in the control group.
"Our study shows that intervention programs geared to HIV-infected persons help them curtail high-risk acts that increase the spread of AIDS," Rotheram-Borus said. "We believe that the adoption of similar programs overseas could make a huge dent in HIV transmission rates worldwide."
-UCLA-
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