Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #118517

Richard S. Garfein, PhD, MPH¹, Mary Latka, PhD², Holly Hagan, PhD³, Lawrence Ouellet, PhD⁴, Sharon M. Hudson, PhD⁵, Steffanie A. Strathdee, PhD⁶, Hanne Thiede, DVM, MPH⁷, Elizabeth T. Golub, PhD, MPH⁸, Susan L. Bailey, PhD⁹, Peter Kerndt, MD, MPH¹⁰, Farzana Kapadia, MPH², Debra Hanson¹¹, and David Purcell¹¹. (1) Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, Division of International Health and Cross Cultural Medicine, University of California San Diego School of Medicine, 9500 Gilman Drive, Mailstop 0622, San Diego, CA 92093, 858-822-1952, rgarfein@ucsd.edu, (2) Center for Urban Epidemiologic Studies, New York Academy of Medicine, 1216 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10029, (3) HIV/AIDS Epidemiology, Public Health - Seattle & King County, 106 Prefontaine Place South, Seattle, WA 98104, (4) Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of Illinois Chicago, 1603 West Taylor Street, Chicago, IL 60612, (5) Health Research Association, 1111 N. Las Palmas Avenue, Hollywood, CA 90038, (6) Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 N. Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD 21205, (7) HIV/AIDS Epidemiology Program, Public Health - Seattle & King County, 106 Prefontaine Place South, Seattle, WA 98104, (8) Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, 627 N. Washington Street, Baltimore, MD 21205, (9) Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Illinois at Chicago, 1601 W Taylor St, Chicago, IL 60612, (10) Los Angeles County Department of Health Services Sexually Transmitted Disease Program, 2615 So. Grand Avenue Rm 500, Los Angeles, CA 90007, (11) BIRB, DHAP, NCHSTP, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road (E-37), Atlanta, GA 30333

Background: IDUs, age 15-30 years, were recruited in five cities for a randomized, controlled trial of a 6-session small-group behavioral intervention to reduce their risk for HIV and HCV infection from injection and sexual practices.

Methods: Current IDUs were recruited through community outreach and completed a structured behavioral risk assessment via ACASI and HIV and HCV antibody testing. HIV- and HCV-seronegative individuals were invited for random assignment to the intervention or attention-control condition with assessments repeated 3 and 6 months post-intervention. All participants received enhanced, client-centered pre- and post-test counseling before randomization.

Results: Of 3,285 individuals tested, 2.9% were HIV-positive and 34.4% anti-HCV-positive. Of trial-eligible participants, 1,538 (75%) returned for test results. Although 1,315 agreed to participate, only 854 (64.9%) were randomized and 712 (82%) returned for either follow-up; 57% for both. Randomized participants resembled those who were eligible and baseline demographic and risk behaviors were similar across groups (66.4% male; median age 24 years; 63.1% White). At baseline, 42% and 66% had receptively used syringes and other paraphernalia, respectively; median number of sex partners was 2, and 27% reported consistent condom use. In preliminary outcome analyses, we observed statistically significant declines in self-reported sexual- and injection-risk behaviors in both conditions. While risk behaviors declined more in the intervention condition, differences across conditions were not significant.

Conclusions: Inconclusive findings could be due to inadequate power, possible cross-over of intervention messages to the control group, powerful pre-randomization counseling, or socially-desirable responding. Final results and consideration of these factors will be presented.

Learning Objectives: