Healthy Love

An Evidence-Based Practice

Description

In the United States, heterosexual non-Hispanic black women are far more affected than women of other ethnicities or races by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). In 1989, the community-based organization SisterLove, Inc. created the Healthy Love HIV and sexually transmitted disease (STD) prevention intervention. Healthy Love is a highly interactive, 3-4 hour educational workshop in which women can learn about HIV transmission and effective strategies for reducing risks for contracting or transmitting HIV and other STDs. The intervention provides opportunities for women to develop skills for assessing the risks of various sexual acts and for adopting safer sex techniques. The workshop also helps develop awareness of personal, community, and social attitudes, beliefs, and norms that can influence women's sexual behaviors, relationships, and risk-related decision making. The workshop is held in a location requested by participants, to allow for a safe and comfortable setting that will encourage active participation. Activities focus on positive and self-loving attitudes that will motivate women to protect themselves. Healthy Love is a single-session, relatively low-cost intervention at approximately $92 per participant.

Goal / Mission

Healthy Love seeks to provide a safe, culturally tailored intervention for heterosexual black women to reduce their disproportionately high risk of transmitting and contracting HIV and other STDs. Healthy Love aims to encourage sexual abstinence, HIV testing, and receipt of test results; increase women's condom usage during vaginal sex with male partners; and reduce the number of women's sex partners and unprotected anal and vaginal sex with male partners. Healthy Love also seeks to improve HIV/STD knowledge, self-efficacy for using condoms, intentions to use condoms, and attitudes towards condoms.

Impact

Healthy Love increased participants' likelihood of using condoms, being tested for HIV, and receiving their test results. The intervention also reduced participants' self-described actions with male partners that can increase black women's risks for HIV infection.

Results / Accomplishments

SisterLove evaluated the efficacy of Healthy Love using a group-randomized controlled trial design. In relation to comparison participants, Healthy Love participants reported significantly higher rates of condom use at last vaginal, anal, or oral sex with any male partner at both the 3-month and 6-month follow-up assessments. At 6 months, Healthy Love participants reported significantly higher rates of HIV testing and receipt of test results. Healthy Love participants reported greater improvements in self-efficacy for using condoms and HIV knowledge immediately after the intervention, in intentions to use condoms with their primary male partners at 3 months, and in attitudes toward HIV knowledge and condom use at 6 months. There was no significant intervention effect on sexual abstinence.

About this Promising Practice

Organization(s)
SisterLove, Inc.
Primary Contact
Lisa Diane White
P.O. Box 10558
Atlanta, Georgia 30310-1731
404-505-7777
lwhite@sisterlove.org
http://www.sisterlove.org/
Topics
Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases
Health / Women's Health
Organization(s)
SisterLove, Inc.
Source
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Date of publication
4/18/2014
Geographic Type
Urban
Location
Atlanta, GA
For more details
http://www.sisterlove.org/health-education-advocac...
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/su6301a4....
Target Audience
Women, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

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Related Content for: Healthy Love

An Evidence-Based Practice meets the following HCI criteria:

  1. The program description includes at a minimum: the sponsoring organization, program goals, program implementation steps, and outcomes that have demonstrated program success in achieving the program goal in one or more localities.
  2. The results from an evaluation of the program include quantitative measures showing improvement in the outcome(s) of interest after the implementation of the program (i.e. increase in smoking cessation, not just the delivery of a smoking cessation program). The outcome measure(s) is/are compared at relevant time periods before and after the intervention or program implementation. Alternatively, the evaluation study compares the outcome(s) between an intervention group and an appropriate control group.
  3. The study is of peer-review quality and presents numbers in a scientific manner; measurements of precision and reliability are included (e.g. confidence intervals, standard errors), results from statistical tests show a significant difference or change in the outcome measure(s), and relevant point estimates and p-values are presented. Note: if the results from an evaluation of a program are presented in a scientific manner and the outcome measure is improved compared to the baseline measurement or the control group but the difference is not statistically significant, the practice is classified as effective and not evidence-based.