Condom Use with Main and Other Sex Partners Among High-Risk Women: Intervention Outcomes and Correlates of Reduced Risk

Abstract

This paper describes a community-level HIV prevention program for high-risk women in Long Beach, California that was implemented as part of the multi-site AIDS Community Demonstration Projects. The intervention model, which was based on health behavior theory and formative research, emphasized: (1) development of publications portraying local role models' experiences, (2) distribution of role-model stories by peer volunteers, and (3) environmental facilitation. The evaluation protocol incorporated anonymous street interviews in intervention and comparison communities, with repeated cross-sectional sampling over a 40-month period. By the end of the program, 71% of at-risk women interviewed in the intervention area had been reached by the project. Significant differential increases were observed in the intervention community for condom use with non-main partners (p < .01), but not main partners (p > .05), relative to the comparison area. Women who reported exposure to the intervention were more likely to use condoms consistently with main (p < .05) and non-main partners (p < .001) than were those who were not exposed. Twelve factors related to increased condom use with main and non-main partners were identified and are discussed.