Behavioral Intervention Reduces Risk of HIV Spread

Behavioral Intervention Reduces Risk of HIV Spread

HIV-positive people can considerably reduce their risk of transmitting the virus to others by participating in a cognitive-behavioral therapy program, according to Dr. Stephen F. Morin of the University of California-San Francisco and colleagues from the Healthy Living Project.

The researchers assigned 936 people who were at risk of transmitting HIV to one of two groups: cognitive-behavioral therapy or no intervention. The program included 15 90-minute sessions covering three modules. These included discussing stress, coping and adjustment behaviors; teaching safer behaviors; and implementing healthy behaviors.

To determine whether the behavioral intervention reduced a person's HIV transmission risk, defined as "the number of unprotected sexual risk acts with persons of HIV-negative or unknown status," follow-up assessments were conducted at five, 10, 15, 20, and 25 months.

At the 20-month follow-up, there was a 36 percent reduction in HIV transmission risk for the intervention group as compared with the control group. "Unfortunately, the treatment effect in terms of a reduction of HIV transmission risk acts was not maintained at 25 months," the researchers wrote.

"Even small behavior changes among infected individuals can have a significant effect on the epidemic," suggesting that the study's behavioral intervention "can be effective in reducing the number of new HIV events," Morin and colleagues wrote.

The study, "Effects of a Behavioral Intervention to Reduce Risk of Transmission Among People Living with HIV: The Healthy Living Project Randomized Controlled Study," was published in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes (2007;44(2):213-221).

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