The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #49416

Nabila El-Bassel, DSW, School of Social Work, Columbia University, 622 West 113 St., New York, NY 10025, 212-854-5011, ne5@columbia.edu and Louisa Gilbert, MS, Social Intervention Group, Columbia University, 475 Riverside Drive, Ste. #1842, New York, NY 10115.

HIV and IPV are two intersecting public health problems affecting the lives of many drug-involved women. The study examines how sexual and physical IPV lead to HIV risk behavior among women in methadone programs (MPs). Method: 416 women were randomly recruited from MPs. Mean age was 40 (SD=6.7); the majority were African-American (31%) and Hispanic (48%); and 15% were HIV+. We used propensity score matching, to examine causal effects. Results: 87% of women experienced lifetime physical and sexual IPV and 47% experienced IPV, past six months. Propensity score matching suggests that the probability of physical and sexual IPV, past six months, increased when women engaged in HIV risk behaviors in the past six months: never using a condom compared to always using condoms (OR=2.3, p=0.01); sometimes using a condom compared to always using one (OR=8.1, p=0.00); never or sometimes requesting that the partner use a condom compared to always doing so (OR=3.8, p=0.00); never refusing sex without condoms compared to always doing so (OR=2.7, p=0.01); sometimes refusing sex without condoms compared always doing so (OR=8.5, p=0.00); and having more than one sexual partner (OR=4.4, p=0.01). Conclusions: Findings showed that IPV increases the risk of sexual HIV risk behavior among women in MPs. The findings underscore the importance of developing gender-specific HIV interventions for women that address the relationship between sexual and physical IPV and sexual risk behavior.

Learning Objectives:

• To be aware of the scope of intimate partner violence (IPV) among drug-involved women and identify the relationship between IPV and HIV risk behavior.
• To learn a design of a gender-specific HIV interventions for women that addresses the relationship between sexual and physical IPV and sexual risk behavior.

Keywords: Women and HIV/AIDS, Domestic Violence

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.