Interventions for HIV+ Mothers With Problem Drinking

Interventions for HIV+ Mothers With Problem Drinking

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of a 14-session behavioral intervention for HIV-infected and uninfected mothers with problem drinking. The intervention targets alcohol and drug problems, sexual risk behavior, and parenting. We hypothesize that mothers in the 14-session intervention condition will show improvements in alcohol and drug use, sexual risk behavior, and parenting in comparison to the control condition, which receives a one session brief video intervention.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of a 14-session behavioral intervention for HIV-infected and uninfected mothers with problem drinking. We targeted 118 mothers of adolescent children (aged 11-18). The intervention is based on Social Action Theory (Ewart, 1991) and targets alcohol and drug problems, sexual risk behavior, and parenting. Mothers are followed and interviewed at four intervals over 18 months. Because we anticipate that the intervention will have effects on adolescent behavior, these youth are also enrolled and interviewed at three intervals over 12 months. Adolescents do not attend intervention sessions. We hypothesize that mothers in the 14-session intervention condition will show improvements in alcohol and drug use, sexual risk behavior, and parenting in comparison to the control condition, which receives a one session brief video intervention.

Inclusion Criteria for adult participants (mothers):

• Age over 18
• Meets criteria for problem drinking on the AUDIT (score of 6 or greater)
• Has one biological/adopted child aged 11-18 who was in the home at least half the time in the past month

Exclusion Criteria:

• Injection drug use in the past three months