Effectiveness of a Culturally Tailored HIV and Sexually Transmitted Infection Prevention Intervention for Black Women in Community Supervision Programs
Authors: Louisa Gilbert, Dawn Goddard-Eckrich, Mingway Chang, Timothy Hunt, Elwin Wu, Karen Johnson, Stanley Richards, Sharun Goodwin, Richard Tibbetts, Lisa R. Metsch, Nabila El-Bassel
Journal: JAMA Network Open (2021)

<h3>Importance</h3> Concentrated epidemics of HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) have persisted among Black women in community supervision programs (CSPs) in the United States. Accumulating research has highlighted the effectiveness of culturally tailored HIV/STI interventions for Black women; however, there is a dearth of such interventions for the large number of Black women in CSPs. <h3>Objective</h3> To determine the effectiveness of a 5-session culturally tailored group-based intervention (Empowering African-American Women on the Road to Health [E-WORTH]) with individualized computerized modules and streamlined HIV testing in reducing STIs and condomless sex vs a 1-session streamlined HIV testing control condition. <h3>Design, Setting, and Participants</h3> This randomized clinical trial was conducted from November 18, 2015, (first recruitment) to August 20, 2019 (last 12-month follow-up). Black women mandated to probation, parole, or alternative-to-incarceration programs in New York City who had a history of drug use were recruited and randomized to receive either E-WORTH or a streamlined HIV testing control condition. Both conditions were delivered by Black female staff at a large CSP. The analysis took an intention-to-treat approach. <h3>Intervention</h3> E-WORTH included a 1-hour individual HIV testing and orientation session and 4 weekly 90-minute group sessions. The control condition included one 30-minute session of HIV testing and information. <h3>Main Outcomes and Measures</h3> Primary outcomes were incidence of any STI (biologically assayed chlamydia, gonorrhea, and<i>Trichomonas vaginalis</i>) at the 12-month assessment and the number of condomless acts of vaginal or anal intercourse in the past 90 days during the 12-month period. <h3>Results</h3> A total of 352 participants who identified as Black or African American were enrolled, including 79 (22.5%) who also identified as Latinx. The mean (SD) age was 32.4 (11.0) years. A total of 172 participants (48.9%) were assigned to the E-WORTH condition, and 180 (51.1%) were assigned to the control condition. Compared with control participants, participants assigned to the E-WORTH condition had 54% lower odds of testing positive for any STI at the 12-month follow-up (odds ratio, 0.46; 95% CI, 0.25-0.88;<i>P</i> = .01) and reported 38% fewer acts of condomless vaginal or anal intercourse during the 12-month period (incidence rate ratio, 0.62; 95% CI, 0.39-0.97;<i>P</i> = .04). <h3>Conclusions and Relevance</h3> The magnitudes of effects found across biological and behavioral outcomes in this randomized clinical trial indicate the feasibility and effectiveness of implementing E-WORTH in real-world CSPs. The findings lend further evidence to the promise of culturally tailored HIV/STI interventions for Black women. <h3>Trial Registration</h3> ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:NCT02391233