This study demonstrates the efficacy of a relationship-based prevention program for couples at risk for HIV infection.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) and HIV are two serious overlapping public health epidemics that disproportionately affect drug-involved women. This article reviews research that has identified a number of contexts that may explain the links between IPV and HIV transmission risks. These contexts include sexual coercion, fear of violence, negotiation of condom use, extradyadic relationships, disclosure of sexually transmitted infections or HIV seropositivity to intimate partners, drug involvement of women and their male partners, low social status of drug-involved women, relationship dependencies, and sex ratio imbalances. The article focuses on how the bidirectional relationship between IPV and HIV risks may be mediated by a history of childhood sexual abuse and post-traumatic stress disorder. Also addressed are the challenges that substance user treatment programs face in dealing with female clients who experience IPV and the implications for HIV prevention.

Objective Dual threats of injection drug use and risky sexual practices continue to increase transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted Infections (STIs) among drug-using couples in low-income communities in the United States. Two hypotheses were tested: (1) “intervention effect”—whether the HIV risk-reduction intervention provided to the couple or individual partners would be more efficacious in decreasing number of unprotected sexual acts and having a lower cumulative incidence of biologically confirmed STIs over the 12-month follow-up period compared with the attention control condition; and (2) “modality effect”—whether the HIV risk-reduction intervention would be more likely to decrease the number of unprotected sexual acts and have a lower cumulative STI incidence when delivered to a couple compared with the same intervention delivered to an individual. Design Using a randomized controlled trial, 282 HIV-negative drug-using couples (564 individuals) were randomly assigned to receive either of the following: (1) couple-based risk reduction; (2) individual-based HIV risk reduction, or (3) couple-based wellness promotion, which served as an attention control condition. Results Over 12-month follow-up, there was a 30% reduction in the incidence rate of unprotected acts of intercourse with the study partners compared with participants in the attention control arm. Moreover, over 12-month follow-up there was a 29% reduction in the same outcome in the couple arm compared with the individual arm with a 41% reduction at the 12-month follow-up. Conclusion A couple-based approach that addresses drug and sexual risks and targets low-income active drug users may help curb the HIV epidemic.

Growing evidence suggests intimate partner violence (IPV) and substance misuse are co-occurring problems that disproportionately affect low income urban women seeking care in emergency departments (EDs) and represent leading causes of injuries that result in ED visits. This paper examines temporal bi-directional associations between different types of drug and alcohol use and different types of IPV in a longitudinal study of a representative sample of 241 low income, urban women receiving emergency care from an ED in the Bronx, New York. After adjusting and matching for socio-demographics and potentially confounding multi-level risk and protective covariates, women who reported using heroin in the prior six months at Wave 1 were twice as likely as non-heroin using women to indicate any physical, injurious or sexual IPV at subsequent waves and were 2.7 times more likely to indicate experiencing an injury from IPV at subsequent waves. Crack or cocaine use in the past 6 months at Wave 1 was associated with an increased likelihood of injurious IPV and severe verbal abuse at subsequent waves. Findings also suggested that sexual IPV was significantly associated with subsequent use of crack or cocaine. The multiple bidirectional associations found linking these problems underscore the need for conducting routine screening for IPV and substance misuse among women in low income, urban EDs, and for improving linkages to services that will ultimately reduce the risk of morbidity, disability, and mortality related to these co-occurring problems.

Findings advance the HIV prevention repertoire for women, demonstrating that risk reduction may be achieved through a structural intervention that relies on asset building, including savings, and alternatives to income from sex work.

This randomized clinical trial examined the relative efficacy of a relationship-based HIV/STI prevention intervention for women and their regular male sexual partners at 12 months post-intervention. A total of 217 couples were randomized to (1) a six-session intervention provided to the woman and her sexual partner together (n=81); (2) the same intervention provided to the woman alone (n=73); or (3) a one-session health information education "control" provided to the woman alone (n=63). Findings suggest the intervention was efficacious in reducing unprotected sex at 12 months post-intervention, compared with the education control group. No significant differences were observed when comparing whether couples received the intervention together or when the woman received it alone.

ImportanceThis study is designed to address the need for evidence-based HIV/STI prevention approaches for drug-involved women under criminal justice community supervision.ObjectiveWe tested the efficacy of a group-based traditional and multimedia HIV/STI prevention intervention (Project WORTH: Women on the Road to Health) among drug-involved women under community supervision.Design, Setting, Participants, and InterventionWe randomized 306 women recruited from community supervision settings to receive either: (1) a four-session traditional group-based HIV/STI prevention intervention (traditional WORTH); (2) a four-session multimedia group-based HIV/STI prevention intervention that covered the same content as traditional WORTH but was delivered in a computerized format; or (3) a four-session group-based Wellness Promotion intervention that served as an attention control condition. The study examined whether the traditional or multimedia WORTH intervention was more efficacious in reducing risks when compared to Wellness Promotion; and whether multimedia WORTH was more efficacious in reducing risks when compared to traditional WORTH.Main Outcomes and MeasuresPrimary outcomes were assessed over the 12-month post-intervention period and included the number of unprotected sex acts, the proportion of protected sex acts, and consistent condom use. At baseline, 77% of participants reported unprotected vaginal or anal sex (n = 237) and 63% (n = 194) had multiple sex partners.ResultsWomen assigned to traditional or multimedia WORTH were significantly more likely than women assigned to the control condition to report an increase in the proportion of protected sex acts (β = 0.10; 95% CI = 0.02–0.18) and a decrease in the number of unprotected sex acts (IRR = 0.72; 95% CI = 0.57–0.90).Conclusion and RelevanceThe promising effects of traditional and multimedia WORTH on increasing condom use and high participation rates suggest that WORTH may be scaled up to redress the concentrated epidemics of HIV/STIs among drug-involved women in the criminal justice system.Trial RegistrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT01784809

SUMMARYThis study examines HIV/STI risk behaviors, alcohol abuse, intimate partner violence, and psychological distress among 48 female sex workers in Mongolia to inform the design of a genderspecific, HIV/STI prevention intervention for this population. Quantitative findings demonstrate that over 85% of women reported drinking alcohol at harmful levels; 70% reported using condoms inconsistently with any sexual partner; 83% reported using alcohol before engaging in sex with paying partners, and 38% reported high levels of depression. Focus group findings provide contextual support and narrative descriptions for the ways that poverty, alcohol abuse, interpersonal violence, and cultural norms that stigmatize and marginalize women are intertwined risk factors for STIs, including HIV, among these vulnerable women.