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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2007 Nov-Dec;34(3):263-74.
doi: 10.1007/BF02874551.

Efficacy of a behavioral intervention for increasing safer sex behaviors in HIV-negative, heterosexual methamphetamine users: results from the Fast-Lane Study

Brent T Mausbach  1 , Shirley J Semple, Steffanie A Strathdee, Jim Zians, Thomas L Patterson
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Efficacy of a behavioral intervention for increasing safer sex behaviors in HIV-negative, heterosexual methamphetamine users: results from the Fast-Lane Study

Brent T Mausbach et al. Ann Behav Med. 2007 Nov-Dec.

Abstract

Background: The risk of acquiring HIV is particularly high among persons who use methamphetamine, which is often associated with unprotected sex and high numbers of sexual partners.

Purpose: This study examined the efficacy of a behavioral intervention emphasizing motivational interviewing and social cognitive theory for increasing safer sex behaviors in the context of ongoing methamphetamine use in a sample of HIV-negative, heterosexual methamphetamine users.

Methods: Four hundred fifty-one participants from San Diego, California, were randomly assigned to receive one of three treatment conditions: (a) a safer sex behavioral intervention (Fast-Lane [FL]), (b) the FL intervention with boosters (FL + B), or (c) a time-equivalent diet-and-exercise attention-control (D&E) condition. Random effects regression analyses were used to evaluate change in safer sex behaviors over an 18-month period.

Results: Compared to those in the D&E condition, participants in the FL + B condition (p = .019) and FL condition (p = .020) significantly increased their engagement in protected sex acts over the active intervention phase. Also, compared to the D&E condition, those in the FL condition demonstrated a significant decrease in unprotected sex (p = .005) and an increase in percent protected sex (p = .001) during the active intervention. Finally, relative to D&E participants, FL participants demonstrated significant improvements in self-efficacy for negotiating safer sex (p = .011), and change in self-efficacy mediated the efficacy of the FL condition for increasing safer sex behaviors (p = .033).

Conclusions: These results suggest that our behavioral intervention was successful in terms of reducing high-risk sexual behaviors in the context of ongoing methamphetamine use among HIV-negative heterosexuals. Reductions in high-risk sexual behavior were likely because of the impact of the intervention on participants' self-efficacy for negotiating safer sex.

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