Efficacy of a woman-focused intervention to reduce HIV risk and increase self-sufficiency among African American crack abusers

Objectives. This study compares 3- and 6-month outcomes of a woman-focused HIV intervention for crack abusers, a revised National Institute on Drug Abuse standard intervention, and a control group. Methods. Out-of-drug-treatment African American women (n=620) who use crack participated in a randomized field experiment. Risk behavior, employment, and housing status were assessed with linear and logistic regression. Results. All groups significantly reduced crack use and high-risk sex at each follow-up, but only woman-focused intervention participants consistently improved employment and housing status. Compared with control subjects at 6 months, woman-focused intervention participants were least likely to engage in unprotected sex; revised standard intervention women reported greatest reductions in crack use. Conclusions. A woman-focused intervention can successfully reduce risk and facilitate employment and housing and may effectively reduce the frequency of unprotected sex in the longer term.