Safer sex strategies for women: the hierarchical model in methadone treatment clinics.

Women clients of a methadone maintenance treatment clinic were targeted for an intervention aimed to reduce unsafe sex. The hierarchical model was the basis of the single intervention session, tested among 63 volunteers. This model requires the educator to discuss and demonstrate a full range of barriers that women might use for protection, ranking these in the order of their known efficacy.

Human immunodeficiency virus sexual risk reduction in homeless men with mental illness.

Background: The spread of human immunodeficiency virus infection to impaired groups has intensified the challenge for its prevention; control of the epidemic now requires behavioral change among persons with limited ability to sustain attention and learn. In this randomized clinical trial, we tested an intervention to reduce sexual risk behaviors among homeless men with severe mental illness.

Methods: Men were recruited from a psychiatric program in a homeless shelter.

Injection drug use among homeless adults with severe mental illness.

Objectives: This study examined injection drug use among homeless men and women with severe mental illness in two sites.

Methods: The data were drawn from related clinical trials conducted in Baltimore (101 men, 49 women) and Boston (85 men, 33 women).

Results: The percentages of homeless men with a history of injection drug use were 26% in Baltimore and 16% in Boston; the corresponding rates among homeless women were 8% and 6%.