Reducing AIDS Risks Among Dually Disordered Adults

Abstract

Professional social workers are called on to assist many vulnerable clientpopulations. One such group consists of adults with coexisting substance use and mental disorders who are at risk for HIV infection. This article presents an evaluation of a social group work intervention designed to help dually disordered adults change sexual behaviors that increase their risk of HIV infection. Thirty clients attending a day treatment program for dually disordered adults agreed to participate in an AIDS awareness and prevention group. Using a nonequivalent control group evaluation design, clients were systematically assigned to either the first cycle of the group or to a waiting list. Findings demonstrated that, compared to persons on the waiting list, clients who received the preventive intervention improved their understanding of correct condom use, used condoms more often, reduced risky sexual practices, and were more assertive in sexual encounters. Behavioral changes were attributable to group involvement and not the clients' pregroup characteristics. This was a limited pilot evaluation. The results, however, should encourage social workers developing AIDS preventive interventions for a particularly vulnerable client population.

AIDS Knowledge and Risk Behaviors Among Alcoholic Adults

“…F i t , the respondents, inner-city alcoholic adults, possessed fairly good to excellent knowledge about AIDS, HIV infection, and transmission routes. Their overall knowledge level was comparable to that of national samples of African-Amencans and Hispanics , better than the knowledge of dually disordered adults (Hanson, et al, 1992), but poorer than that of illicit drug abusers (Ottomanelli et al, 1990). Consistent with other reports, more accurate knowledge was displayed by better educated individuals (e.g., McCaig et al, 1991).…”

“…Any person enrolled in the clinic with a diagnosis of alcohol abuse or dependence was eligible to be interviewed. A similar survey had been completed recently for persons with major mental disorders (e.g., schizophrenic disorder, bi-polar disorder, major depression) in addition to substance use disorders (Hanson et al, 1992). Thus, persons with severe and persistent mental illnesses were excluded from this survey.…”

Ethical Issues in a Study of Bipolar Disorder and HIV Risk Among African-American Men Who Have Sex With Men

“…Studies of HIV seroprevalence among individuals with SMI have found seroprevalence rates ranging from 4% to 22.9% (Cournos et al, 1991(Cournos et al, , 1994Empfield et al, 1993;Lee et al, 1992;Meyer et al, 1993a, b;Saks et al, 1992;Schwartz-Watts et al, 1995;Silberstein et al, 1994;Stewart et al, 1994;Susser et al, 1993;Volovka et al, 1991). Research relating to HIV risk behaviors among SMI individuals indicates that as many as 40% of some samples have had more than one sexual partner during the year preceding the study (Hanson et al, 1992;Kelly et al, 1992); sexual intercourse with a known injection drug user has been reported in as many as 20% to 26% of SMI individuals (Knox et al, 1994;Steiner et al, 1992). As many as 27% or more of SMI samples have reported trading sex for drugs (Kalichman et al, 1994;McKinnon et al, 1996).…”

Approaches to Identifying Appropriate Medication Adherence Assessments for HIV Infected Individuals with Comorbid Bipolar Disorder

“…33 Mood instability can increase risk for dangerous behaviors such as suicide, substance use, and unprotected sexual activity. [34][35][36] Poor adherence is common among individuals with BD. 33 Outcomes for patients with BD who are nonadherent are at higher risk of relapse, recurrence, and hospitalization.…”