Share Safer Sex Counseling Program for Changing Sexual Risk Behaviors in Mexican Female Sex Workers

April 9, 2013 updated by: Thomas L. Patterson, University of California, San Diego

Safer Sex Intervention for At-risk Women in Mexico

This study will evaluate the effectiveness of the Share Safer Sex Program in reducing sexual risk behaviors among female sex workers in four Mexican cities close to the U.S. border.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Mexican female sex workers (FSWs) represent a large portion of the reported cases of AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in Mexico. Despite the imbalance in the distribution of reported cases, there have been few efforts to change high-risk sexual behaviors in this population. There has been a dramatic increase in HIV and other STDs over the past decade, especially in Mexican cities along the United States border. Border cities often have a thriving sex trade industry, and some are considered "sexual tourist" destinations. FSWs in these border cities, however, often do not know how to practice safe sex. A previous study showed that a culturally sensitive risk reduction counseling program was effective in reducing sexual risk behavior in FSWs in Tijuana, Mexico. It may therefore be possible to implement the same program, with similar efficacy, in other Mexican cities near the U.S. border. This study will evaluate the effectiveness of the Share Safer Sex Program versus a standard counseling program in reducing sexual risk behaviors among FSWs in the Mexican cities of Tijuana, Ciudad Juarez, Nuevo Laredo, and Matamoros.

Participants in this open label study will be randomly assigned to either the Share Safer Sex Program or a standard counseling program. Both programs will last for 6 months and will consist of a single counseling session lasting between 35 and 40 minutes. All participants will undergo blood collection and a gynecological exam upon study entry and 6 months later. The standard counseling program will be based on a sexual risk reduction counseling program developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and will focus on personal risk assessment and strategies for risk reduction. Additionally, it will incorporate risk reduction materials provided by CENSIDA, Mexico's National Center for AIDS Studies. The Share Safer Sex Program will be tailored to the needs, values, beliefs, and behaviors of the participants, and will take into account gender and cultural differences. Counselors will work with participants to increase personal awareness of their current unsafe behaviors and the associated risks, help them understand their motivation to change, and increase their knowledge about how to practice safe sex. Demonstrations and practice exercises will be used to improve participants' attitudes about, as well as intentions to practice, condom use. The counseling session will include the following activities: assessing readiness for change; building motivation for change; and performing exercises in decisional balance, identification of problem and problem-solving, and knowledge and skill-building. Outcomes for both treatment groups will be assessed after 6 months. Participants in the standard counseling program will be offered an opportunity to participate in the Share Safer Sex Program upon completion of the study.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

1800

Phase

  • Phase 2

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Mexico
    • B.c.
      • Tijuana, B.c., Mexico
        • Study outreach clinic

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

Female

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Reports having had unprotected vaginal, oral, or anal sex at least once within 2 weeks prior to study entry

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Consistent use of condoms or dental dams for vaginal, oral, and anal sex with all clients within 2 weeks prior to study entry
  • Duration of employment as an FSW is less than 2 weeks

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: 1
Participants will receive the Share Safer Sex counseling program
Behavioral: Share Safer Sex program
The Share Safer Sex intervention will consist of a single, 30 to 40 minute, one-on-one counseling session designed to increase personal awareness of the participant's current unsafe behaviors and the associated risks, help her understand her motivation to change, and increase her knowledge about how to practice safe sex. Demonstrations and practice exercises will be used to improve participants' attitudes about, as well as intentions to practice, condom use. The counseling session will include the following activities: assessing readiness for change; building motivation for change; and performing exercises in decisional balance, identification of problem and problem-solving, and knowledge and skill-building.
Active Comparator: 2
Participants will receive a standard didactic safer-sex counseling session
Behavioral: Standard didactic safer-sex counseling program
The standard counseling program will be based on a sexual risk reduction counseling program developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and will focus on personal risk assessment and strategies for risk reduction. Additionally, it will incorporate risk reduction materials provided by CENSIDA, Mexico's National Center for AIDS Studies.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Frequency of unprotected vaginal, oral, and anal sex with clients and spouse or steady partner
Time Frame: Measured at Month 6 post-treatment
Measured at Month 6 post-treatment

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
STD incidence
Time Frame: Measured at Month 6 post-treatment
Measured at Month 6 post-treatment
Knowledge, self-efficacy, and positive outcome expectancies re: condom use
Time Frame: Measured at Month 6 post-treatment
Measured at Month 6 post-treatment

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University of California, San Diego

Collaborators

National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Thomas L. Patterson, PhD, Dept. of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

December 1, 2003

Primary Completion (Actual)

November 1, 2008

Study Completion (Actual)

November 1, 2008

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

June 16, 2006

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 16, 2006

First Posted (Estimate)

June 20, 2006

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

April 11, 2013

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 9, 2013

Last Verified

April 1, 2013

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • R01MH065849 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)
  • DAHBR 9A-ASI

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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