Two-year Follow-Up of AIDS Education Programs for Impoverished Women
Published in: Western Journal of Nursing Research, v. 21, no. 3, 1999, p. 405-425
Posted on RAND.org on January 01, 1999
The long-term effects of two culturally competent AIDS education programs with different content on the risk behavior and AIDS-related knowledge of 4l0 homeless African American women 2 years after program completion were examined. Participants were members of a larger cohort of impoverished African American and Latina women recruited in Los Angeles from 1989 to 1991. Of a subsample of 527 African American women selected randomly for a 2-year follow up interview, 410 (78%) were located and agreed to participate. Women participating in both AIDS education programs reported reduced HIV risk behaviors and demonstrated greatly improved AIDS knowledge at 2-year follow-up (p<.001). Women in a specialized program were less likely than those in a traditional program to report noninjection drug use at 2 years. Women in the traditional program had significantly better AIDS knowledge at follow-up (p <.001). These findings suggest that educational programs can produce sustained benefits among impoverished women.
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