Young Women's Health CoOp (Cooperative) in Cape Town
Condition: HIV; Substance Abuse
MeSH terms: Substance-Related Disorders
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      This supplement study is an adaptation of the larger NIH-funded parent study, the Women's
      Health CoOp+, which tests a combination biobehavioral HIV prevention approach to enhance
      standard HIV testing practices for alcohol and drug (AOD)-using women across the city of
      Pretoria, South Africa. The current supplemental study seeks to reach AOD-using female
      adolescents who experience the greatest burden of new HIV infections and are currently
      underserved by HIV and drug-treatment programs in Cape Town, South Africa and test the
      validation of both the instrument and adapted intervention.
    

Detailed description: 
      This study is testing and validating both the revised instrument and adapted intervention
      through a small pilot trial where a cluster randomized design is used to recruit 100
      participants through snowball sampling by community to either the YWHC condition or standard
      HIV Counseling and Testing (HCT); collect biological specimens to screen for recent drug use,
      pregnancy and HIV infection and provide referrals for care to resources; conduct process
      evaluation measures for satisfaction and a 1-month follow-up post-intervention interview
      assessing the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of conducting this intervention among
      vulnerable young women and linking them to care.

      Young women from disadvantaged communities in Cape Town who have dropped out of school and
      who use AODs are highly vulnerable to physical victimization (violence and sexual
      victimization) from any perpetrator, including main sexual partners and drug-related sexual
      risks for HIV. Yet these vulnerable young women remain underserved by current HIV and drug
      treatment programs in the region, even though they are experiencing the greatest burden of
      new HIV infections in the country. The adapted Young Women's Health CoOp (YWHC) intervention
      has a high likelihood of wider implementation, sustainability, and a significant public
      health impact by reducing the exceedingly high HIV incidence amongst the most vulnerable
      populations in South Africa.
    

Intervention name(s): Young Women's Health CoOp (YWHC); HIV Counseling/Testing
Intervention type(s): Behavioral; Behavioral
Intervention description(s): Participants in this group will participate in two workshops of the young woman-focused intervention about HIV/STIs (sexually transmitted infections), sexual behaviors, alcohol and other drug use, violence, communication skills, and other issues. Participants will develop personalized risk reduction action plans at the end of each workshop session.; Participants will be tested for HIV and if positive will receive counseling in accordance with national standards.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Prevention
Keywords: HIV; Sexual Risk; Sexually Transmitted Diseases; Substance Abuse; Violence and Victimization