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Options/Opciones Project

An Evidence-Based Practice

Description

The goal of the Options/Opciones Project is to reduce or eliminate risky sexual and drug use behaviors among HIV-positive patients. This intervention is delivered to patients by clinicians during routine visits and is repeated at each visit. During a 5-minute to 10-minute patient-centered discussion, clinicians evaluate sexual and drug use behaviors, assess the patient’s readiness to change their risky behaviors, and encourage the patient to come up with ways that he/she can move towards change or maintain certain safer behaviors. The clinician and patient then create an individually tailored behavior change plan of action for the participant to achieve by the next visit.

Goal / Mission

The goal of the Options/Opciones Project is to reduce or eliminate risky sexual and drug use behaviors of HIV-infected patients.

Impact

The Options/Opciones Project shows that a clinician-delivered HIV prevention intervention targeting HIV-infected patients can result in reductions in unprotected sex and that interventions of this kind should be integrated into routine HIV clinical care.

Results / Accomplishments

Across all three post-baseline assessments, intervention participants reported significantly fewer occasions of unprotected anal and vaginal sex with any partner when compared to the control group (p=0.01).

About this Promising Practice

Primary Contact
Deborah H. Cornman
University of Connecticut
Center for Health, Intervention and Prevention (CHIP)
Ryan Refectory, Unit 1248
2006 Hillside Road
Storrs, CT 06269
(860) 486-4645
deborah.cornman@uconn.edu
https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/pdf/research/interventionr...
Topics
Health / Prevention & Safety
Source
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Date of publication
Jan 2006
Date of implementation
Oct 2000
Geographic Type
Urban
Location
New Haven and Hartford, CT
For more details
Additional Audience
HIV-positive patients