SEXUALLY-TRANSMITTED DISEASE (STD) AND HIV RISK IN HETEROSEXUAL ADULTS ATTENDING A PUBLIC STD CLINIC EVALUATION OF A RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED BEHAVIORAL RISK-REDUCTION INTERVENTION TRIAL

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of a cognitive/behavioral skills-b uilding intervention to prevent sexually transmitted diseases (STD) in high-risk heterosexual adults. Design: A randomized controlled trial with assessments at baseline, and at 3 and 5 months. Setting: San Fran cisco STD Clinic. Patients: A total of 399 patients were randomly assi gned to a four-session, individual, multi-component, cognitive/behavio ral intervention (n = 199), or a brief standardized counseling session offered to all patients (n = 200). Intervention: Based on the AIDS Ri sk-Reduction Model, the aims of the intervention were to increase prev ention knowledge, reduce high-risk psychosocial factors, and build dec ision-making and communication skills to modify sexual behaviors. Main outcome measures: The primary outcome of interest was STD. The second ary outcome was number of risky sexual activities. Results: There were no differences between the intervention (13%) and control (11%) group s in their acquisition of STD. Among men, condom use increased more at 3 months in the intervention group than the control group (56.8 versu s 42.3%; P < 0.05). In addition, the mean number of sexual partners wi thout condom use was lower in the intervention group than in the contr ol group at 5 months (0.6 versus 0.9; P < 0.01). Conclusions: The resu lts suggest that a cognitive/behavioral, skills-building intervention consisting of individual, multiple sessions and follow-up assessments can be implemented and evaluated with high-risk heterosexually active adults attending public STD clinics. Our intervention did not have a s ignificant impact on STD, although it had some impact on behavior in m en, but not in women.