THE LONG-TERM OUTCOME OF A PERSONAL NETWORK-ORIENTED HIV PREVENTION INTERVENTION FOR INJECTION-DRUG USERS - THE SAFE STUDY

Social influence processes have been found to affect numerous drug and health-related behaviors. We postulated that by using a network-orien ted intervention it may be possible to capitalize on social influence processes to reduce human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) risk behaviors. The present study used an experimental study design for delivering a psychoeducational acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) preventive intervention to injection drug soaring networks. Participants were re cruited from the ALIVE study, an epidemiological study in Baltimore. I n the present paper we examine the self-reported behavioral outcomes o f 117 injection drug users 18 months after the baseline interview HIV seronegative experimental participants reported significantly less fre quent needle sharing and less injecting of heroin and cocaine than con trols. In multiple logistic regression models of HIV seronegative part icipants, there was a significant negative association between assignm ent to the experimental group and the HIV-related behaviors of needle snaring and sharing of cookers in the prior 6 months; controls were 2. 8 times more likely than experimentals to report needle sharing and we re 2.7 times more likely to report sharing cookers. The results of thi s 18-month follow-up suggest that among injection drug users network-o riented interventions may be a promising approach to HIV prevention.