This study investigates the impact of providing an educational intervention for intravenous opiate abusers to reduce their likelihood of contracting AIDS and spreading the HIV infection.
The specific aims are to develop and test the impact of a 10-hour training program on: Increasing intravenous drug users' knowledge about AIDS and ways that the HIV is spread, changing the attitudes that put them at risk for contracting or spreading the virus, reducing the behaviors that put them at risk, reducing their substance abuse, and preventing them from contracting the HIV. This is a preliminary assessment that will develop and test the intervention in the Substance Abuse Services of San Francisco General Hospital. One hundred intravenous opiate abusers undergoing outpatient methadone detoxification and sixty intravenous opiate abusers in methadone maintenance will be randomly assigned to receive psychoeducational training or to a comparison group that received written materials only. Measures of impact will focus on (1) information received, (2) attitudes toward risk, (3) target behaviors that are high risk for contracting or spreading the AIDS virus, (4) substance abuse, and (5) immune status. An additional set of measures will document the treatment process, to aid in subsequent improvement of the intervention. This study is an outgrowth of research with other risk groups, demonstrating the preventive effects of providing information, affective education, and skill training rather than simply delivering information and warning about health risks. The study is part of an effort to prevent the spread of the AIDS epidemic among intravenous drug abusers, which is spreading rapidly.
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