Telephone-administered motivational interviewing to reduce risky sexual behavior in HIV-infected rural persons: a pilot randomized clinical trial.
BACKGROUND
Although several studies have characterized patterns and predictors of continued risky sexual behavior in HIV-infected rural persons, far less research has evaluated interventions to reduce risky sex in this group. This pilot randomized clinical trial compared 2 brief telephone-administered interventions designed to reduce continued risky sexual behaviors in HIV-infected rural persons.


METHODS
Participants were 79 HIV-infected rural persons who reported 1 or more occasions of unprotected anal, vaginal, or oral sex in the past 2 months. Participants were recruited through AIDS service organizations in rural areas of 27 states and assigned randomly to either a 2-session, motivational interviewing plus skills-building intervention (i.e., integrated intervention; n = 48) or a 2-session, skills-building only comparison intervention (n = 31). Participants completed self-report measures of sexual behaviors and factors related to risky sex at preintervention and 2-month follow-up.


RESULTS
Before enrolling into the intervention, 37% of participants had 2 or more sexual partners in the past 2 months, 29% had sex with 1 or more partners without knowing their partners' HIV serostatus, and almost one-third of participants located sex partners in high-risk environments (e.g., public parks, roadside rest areas). A 2 x 2 repeated measures multivariate analyses of variance found that integrated intervention participants reported greater increases in risk-reduction motivation and greater increases in condom-protected vaginal and oral intercourse occasions at follow-up compared to skills-building only participants.


CONCLUSIONS
Brief telephone-administered interventions that integrate motivational interviewing with skills-building show potential to reduce risky sexual behaviors in HIV-infected rural persons. Additional and large-scale evaluations of this intervention approach appear warranted.
Cosio
David
D
Department of Psychology, College of Osteopathic Medicine, Ohio University, Athens, OH 45701, USA.
Heckman
Timothy G
TG
Anderson
Timothy
T
Heckman
Bernadette D
BD
Garske
John
J
McCarthy
John
J
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000635:transmission; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D010865:Pilot Projects; D040242:Risk Reduction Behavior; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012424:Rural Population; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D013689:Telephone; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult