PREVENTING SEXUALLY-TRANSMITTED DISEASES (STD) AND HIV IN WOMEN - USING MULTIPLE SOURCES OF DATA TO INFORM INTERVENTION DESIGN

This article describes the process of developing a cognitive behaviora l group intervention to help women at risk of HIV and other sexually t ransmitted diseases (STD) be sexually safer. Theory guided the interve ntion development, which integrated data on the target population from multiple sources: survey research that modelled sexual-safety decisio n making, a community advisory board, a needs assessment, and elicitat ion interviews with women at risk in our community. The article summar izes the information obtained from these sources, describes how we uti lized this information to adapt a previously tested intervention for g ay and bisexual men, uses case examples from pilot testing to illustra te clinical issues in implementation, and delineates major issues of c oncern for intervention research in this area. This paper provides a m odel for behavior therapists for integrating research data and communi ty input in the design of interventions to address community problems.