DVD-based HIV/HCV Prevention Intervention for Drug-Involved Latino Criminal Justice Clients
Condition: Human Immunodeficiency Virus; Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome; Hepatitis C
MeSH terms: Hepatitis C; Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome; HIV Infections; Hepatitis; Immunologic Deficiency Syndromes
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      The purpose of the study are the following: 1) Pilot test and conduct baseline and 3 month
      follow up assessments to evaluate the preliminary efficacy of the DVD-based HIV/HCV
      intervention by randomly assigning 210 Latino corrections-involved, outpatient abuse
      treatment clients to either the experimental intervention or to a wait list control group;
      and 2) to evaluate both participant and interventionist acceptability of this novel DVD-based
      intervention.

      They study hypothesis are the following:

        1. participants in the intervention condition will report greater reductions in sexual risk
           behaviors (e.g., unprotected sexual contact) from baseline to 3 month follow-up compared
           to the control group;

        2. participants will report greater reductions in drug risk behaviors (e.g., sharing
           injection equipment, drug use during sex) from baseline to 3 month follow-up compared to
           the control group;

        3. participants who report more HIV prevention information, motivation, and behavioral
           skills will report fewer sexual risk behaviors.
    

Detailed description: 
      The specific aims for Stage1b are: (1) to pilot test and evaluate the effectiveness of the
      DVD-based HIV intervention by recruiting 210 Latino offenders mandated to substance abuse
      treatment; and (2) to evaluate both participant and interventionist acceptability of this
      novel DVD intervention. Participants will be recruited from a local community agency that
      provides outpatient substance abuse treatment services for court-mandated individuals.
      Eligible participants will be self-identified Latino/Hispanic, between the ages of 18 and 49,
      heterosexual, and all participants will be involved with the criminal justice system.
      Participants will be randomized into either an intervention or a wait-list control condition.
      The intervention consists of one DVD-based group session facilitated by an interventionist.
      Sexual risk, drug use, mental health, and background information will be assessed at
      baseline, and again at 3 months after the intervention session. At the end of the
      intervention session, each participant will complete an acceptability questionnaire, and the
      interventionist will complete a checklist to assess treatment fidelity. It is hypothesized
      that both sexual risk and drug use behaviors will decrease between baseline and follow-up for
      the intervention group compared to the control group. The project is innovative because it
      will develop a DVD-based, culturally-appropriate and language specific, HIV/Hepatitis C virus
      prevention intervention for Latino offenders. The proposed research is significant, because
      it is expected to produce a brief HIV/Hepatitis C virus intervention that can be implemented
      within the criminal justice system and targets a high risk group.

      It is hypothesized that participants in the intervention condition will report significant
      reductions in sexual risk behaviors (e.g., unprotected sexual contact) and drug risk
      behaviors (e.g. sharing injection equipment, drug use while having sex) from baseline to 3 -
      month follow-up when compared to control group. The main analysis here is to compare the
      proportion (or mean) of primary outcomes for those measured at 3-month (post-intervention) to
      those measured at baseline (pre-intervention) between the intervention and control group. The
      null is that there will be no differences, and alternative hypotheses would be that the
      intervention group will report more of a reduction in risk behaviors than control group.
      These hypotheses can be tested by either repeated-measures ANCOVA or regression with the
      robust cluster estimator obtained after controlling for intervention condition.
    

Intervention name(s): DVD Intervention
Intervention type(s): Behavioral
Intervention description(s): Participants will be randomly assigned, with a baseline and 3 month follow up assessments
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Prevention
Keywords: Human Immunodeficiency Virus; Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome; Hepatitis C; Hispanic; Criminal Justice