The Efficacy of an HIV Risk Reduction Intervention for Hispanic Women

Abstract

Culturally-specific HIV risk reduction interventions for Hispanic women are needed. SEPA (Salud/Health, Educación/Education, Promoción/Promotion, y/ and Autocuidado/Self-care) is a culturally-specific and theoretically-based group intervention for Hispanic women. The SEPA intervention consists of five sessions covering STI and HIV prevention; communication, condom negotiation and condom use; and violence prevention. A randomized trial tested the efficacy of SEPA with 548 adult U.S. Hispanic women (SEPA n = 274; delayed intervention control n = 274) who completed structured interviews at baseline and 3, 6, and 12 months post-baseline. Intent-to-treat analyses indicated that SEPA decreased positive urine samples for Chlamydia; improved condom use, decreased substance abuse and IPV; improved communication with partner, improved HIV-related knowledge, improved intentions to use condoms, decreased barriers to condom use, and increased community prevention attitudes. Culturally-specific interventions have promise for preventing HIV for Hispanic women in the U.S. The effectiveness of SEPA should be tested in a translational community trial.

A Comparison by Sexual Orientation of Sexual Health and Sexual Behaviors Among Hispanic Men

“…The SHH also asked participants to report their HIV status as well as information on diagnosed STIs as reported by participants. The SHH has been used in previous studies with Hispanic women (Gonzalez-Guarda et al, 2011; Peragallo et al, 2005; Peragallo et al, 2012). …”

Efficacy of a Computerized Intervention on HIV and Intimate Partner Violence Among Substance-Using Women in Community Corrections: A Randomized Controlled Trial

“…18 The lack of significant differences in IPV outcomes at the 6-month follow-up between Computerized WORTH and control conditions is consistent with some IPV intervention studies, which found stronger effects at 12 months than at 6 months postintervention. 24,39 The delayed effect of WORTH on reducing IPV suggests that it may take more time for women on average to successfully implement their safety planning skills to avoid risks for IPV, access services, and leave abusive partners.…”

“…To our knowledge, however, only 2 integrated interventions have been found to be efficacious in reducing IPV among women. 24,25 To date, no integrated interventions have emerged that have shown efficacy in reducing the syndemic risk of sexual IPV (i.e., forced sex by an intimate partner) among substance-using women.…”

Condom Knowledge and Negotiation in Women Living with and without Human Immunodeficiency Virus

“…To test our hypothesis we designed a questionnaire that incorporated both previous psychometrically validated questions from several studies [14,16,19,22] and questions designed to gather information about our particular population's demographics and medical history. The questionnaire consisted of five sections: Demographics, Obstetrical History, Sexual History, Sexual Knowledge, and Condom Negotiation Strategies with a total of 31 questions.…”

“…A recent survey found that only 21.8% of women used a condom during their last sexual encounter [10]. Several studies have identified barriers to consistent and correct condom use, specifically partner preference [11], physical and emotional violence, [1,12] limited sexual knowledge,13,14 and weak/limited negotiation strategies [13][14][15]. Proven motivators of condom use among females include gender empowerment, [16,17] HIV and STI knowledge [13][14][15], and well developed communication skills and negotiation strategies [13,14].…”