WOMEN AT HIGH-RISK FOR HIV - PREGNANCY AND RISK BEHAVIORS

Pregnancy may provide an opportunity for behavior change among women a t high risk for HIV. Baseline and six-month follow-up data were collec ted from a national sample of female injection drug users (IDUs) and s exual partners of injection drug users (SPs), Repeated measures analys es were conducted separately for three groups of IDUs (pregnant at bas eline, became pregnant between baseline and follow-up, and not pregnan t during the study) and three similar groups of SPs. Results indicated that both pregnant and not pregnant high risk women reported signific ant levels of risk reductions at follow-up. IDUs who were pregnant or became pregnant reported greater reductions in drug injection rates, w ere more likely to report entering drug treatment and reported the gre atest reduction in sex compared to IDUs who were not pregnant. Results suggest that the period of pregnancy provides an opportunity for chan ges in risk behaviors, Innovative outreach efforts and increases in tr eatment options are needed.