Objective: To test the efficacy of brief, safer-sex counseling by medical providers of HIV-positive patients during medical visits.
Setting: Six HIV clinics in California.
Design: Clinics were randomized to intervention arms evaluated with cohorts of randomly selected patients measured before and after the intervention.
Participants: Five-hundred and eighty-five HIV-positive persons, sexually active prior to enrollment.
Interventions: Prevention counseling from medical providers supplemented with written information. Two clinics used a gain-framed approach (positive consequences of safer-sex), two used a loss-frame approach (negative consequences of unsafe sex), and two were attention-control clinics (medication adherence). Interventions were given to all patients who attended the clinics.
Outcome measure: Self-reported unprotected anal or vaginal intercourse (UAV).
Results: Among participants who had two or more sex partners at baseline, UAV was reduced 38% (P < 0.001) among those who received the loss-frame intervention. UAV at follow-up was significantly lower in the loss-frame arm [odds ratio (OR), 0.42; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.19-0.91; P = 0.03] compared with the control arm. Using generalized estimating equations (GEE) to adjust for clustering did not change the conclusions (OR, 0.34; 95% CI, 0.24-0.49; P = 0.0001). Similar results were obtained in participants with casual partners at baseline. No effects were seen in participants with only one partner or only a main partner at baseline. No significant changes were seen in the gain-frame arm.
Conclusions: Brief provider counseling emphasizing the negative consequences of unsafe sex can reduce HIV transmission behaviors in HIV-positive patients presenting with risky behavioral profiles.