Cognitive-behavioral stress management and psychological well-being in HIV+ racial/ethnic minority women with human papillomavirus.

Objective: This study is a secondary analysis examining the effects of a cognitive-behavioral stress management (CBSM) intervention on indicators of positive psychological well-being and negative psychological well-being in HIV-positive racial/ethnic minority women at risk for cervical cancer due to human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and/or cervical intraepithelial lesions (CIN).

Method: Racial/ethnic minority women with HIV and HPV and/or CIN I were randomized to a 10-week CBSM group or a 1-day psychoeducational seminar. Participants completed a battery of measures of positive and negative psychological well-being at 3 time points: preintervention, 3 months postenrollment, and 9 months postenrollment.

Results: Women in the CBSM group reported significant increases in domains of positive well-being, with no changes among women in the psychoeducational seminar, F(6, 63) = 2.42, p < .05, η² = .19. There were no significant changes in domains of negative well-being across time for either group, F(2, 65) = 2.60, p = .08, η² = .07.

Conclusion: These findings suggest that racial/ethnic minority women with HIV at risk for cervical cancer who were randomized to a 10-week CBSM group experienced enhanced positive well-being. The lack of effects on negative well-being may be due to the relatively low levels of negative well-being present in this sample at study entry. Future research should examine whether these effects are replicated in a randomized controlled trial of women with biopsy-confirmed CIN who present with greater distress levels that also employs a time-equivalent comparison condition.