Healthy Relationships

An Evidence-Based Practice

Description

Healthy Relationships is a five-session, small-group intervention for men and women living with HIV/AIDS. As many as one in three HIV-positive people continue unprotected sexual practices after learning that they are HIV infected. Interventions specifically designed for HIV-positives are essential for curtailing the spread of HIV.

Healthy Relationships is based on social cognitive theory and was developed to assist HIV positives in adopting sexual practices that do not place their partners at risk for HIV. The program helps HIV-positive men and women build skills that facilitate sustained behavior change. The program is also designed to build positive expectations about new behaviors through modeling behavior and practicing new skills. Increasing self-efficacy is a component of each intervention session.

The Healthy Relationship materials are meant to be resources used by HIV prevention providers such as health departments and community-based organizations so as to provide the best evidence-based HIV prevention services. The materials are available through the CDC supported Diffusion of Effective Behavioral Interventions (DEBI) program and include access to The Healthy Relationships Clips Database which consists of varied movie clips to be shown during the intervention.

Goal / Mission

The goal of Healthy Relationships is to reduce the risk of HIV transmission by people who know they are HIV-positive by reducing the frequency with which they have unprotected sex.

Impact

Healthy Relationships seeks to develop decision making and problem making skills to reduce the risk and transmission of HIV through behavioral intervention. An intervention study resulted in significantly less unprotected intercourse and greater condom use with lower estimated HIV rates post-intervention.

Results / Accomplishments

An intervention study was conducted to see if the Healthy Relationships intervention reduced the frequency of unprotected sex among HIV-positives more than a less intensive intervention (a five-session, health maintenance support group) six-months after the intervention ended. The study found that those who participated in Healthy Relationships had significantly less unprotected intercourse and greater condom use at follow-up. The estimated HIV transmission rates one-year post-intervention were also significantly lower for the intervention group.

About this Promising Practice

Organization(s)
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Primary Contact
1-866-532-9565
interventions@danya.com
Topics
Health / Wellness & Lifestyle
Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases
Organization(s)
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
For more details
http://www.effectiveinterventions.org/en/HighImpac...
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11457627
Target Audience
Women, Men

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Related Content for: Healthy Relationships

An Evidence-Based Practice meets the following HCI criteria:

  1. The program description includes at a minimum: the sponsoring organization, program goals, program implementation steps, and outcomes that have demonstrated program success in achieving the program goal in one or more localities.
  2. The results from an evaluation of the program include quantitative measures showing improvement in the outcome(s) of interest after the implementation of the program (i.e. increase in smoking cessation, not just the delivery of a smoking cessation program). The outcome measure(s) is/are compared at relevant time periods before and after the intervention or program implementation. Alternatively, the evaluation study compares the outcome(s) between an intervention group and an appropriate control group.
  3. The study is of peer-review quality and presents numbers in a scientific manner; measurements of precision and reliability are included (e.g. confidence intervals, standard errors), results from statistical tests show a significant difference or change in the outcome measure(s), and relevant point estimates and p-values are presented. Note: if the results from an evaluation of a program are presented in a scientific manner and the outcome measure is improved compared to the baseline measurement or the control group but the difference is not statistically significant, the practice is classified as effective and not evidence-based.