The Aim of This Study is to Determine the Effectiveness of a Motivational Enhancement Intervention in Reducing Risk Behaviors (Drug and Alcohol Use, Sexual Risk Behavior, Poor Adherence to Medications) Among HIV+ Youth. - 1

Summary

The purpose of this study is to conduct a pilot study of Motivational Enhancement Therapy (MET), an empirically validated behavioral change strategy, with young adults who are HIV +. The aim is to determine if MET is effective in increasing general health promotion behaviors, adherence to HIV+ specific medical treatment over and above taking medication, and decreasing risky behaviors in young adults who are HIV positive. The longer-term objective is to identify and way to decrease HIV transmission rates, disease progression, illness episodes, and hospitalizations in this high-risk population.

Hypotheses: 1)Youth receiving the motivational intervention plus referrals will report greater reductions in risky behaviors than youth in the control group receiving standard care plus referrals at 3-months post-baseline. This hypothesis will first be tested in the whole sample using an overall risk index. Then, the hypothesis will be tested with each behavior (reduced drug and alcohol use, condom use, taking medications,) within the subgroups reporting problem levels of that behavior; 2)Youth in the intervention group will demonstrate improved viral loads, will report greater improvement in perceived health status, depression, general psychological distress, disclosure to sexual partners, and will demonstrate greater attendance of medical and support service appointments than youth in the control group at 3 months post-baseline; 3)Youth in the intervention group will report greater reductions in temptation to engage in risky behaviors, increased self-efficacy, and improvements in readiness to change their behavior than youth in the control group at 3 months post-baseline; 4)The differences between the intervention and control group from pre- to post- intervention will be maintained at 6, 9, 12, and 15 months post-baseline (3, 6, 9, and 12 months after intervention completion).

Conditions

• Adherence
• HIV Risk Behaviors
• Alcohol & Drug Use
• Health Behaviors
• Sexual Risk Behaviors

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Motivational interviewing

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Wayne State University

  collaborator OTHER

• National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)

  lead NIH

Principal Investigators

• Sylvie Naar-King, Ph.D. · Wayne State University

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Model

SINGLE_GROUP

Eligibility

Min Age

16 Years

Max Age

24 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2002-01-31

Completion

2005-08-31

Countries

• United States

Study Locations