Intervention Description
Intervention Package Information
Evaluation Study and Results
References and Contact Information

Intervention Description

Target Population
Homosexual Asian and Pacific Islander (API) men

Goals of Intervention

• Increase positive ethnic and sexual identity
• Increase acknowledgement of HIV risk behaviors
• Enhance AIDS knowledge, attitudes towards safer sex, safe-sex negotiation skills
• Eliminate or reduce sex risk behaviors

Theoretic Basis

• Health Belief Model
• Theory of Reasoned Action
• Social Cognitive Theory

Intervention Duration
One 3-hour session

Intervention Settings
Community-based agency

Deliverer
One highly trained, paid intervention coordinator and one community volunteer with 6 hours of training

Delivery Methods

• Counseling
• Group Discussion
• Games
• Role play
• Exercises
   

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Intervention Package Information

An intervention package is currently available from Sociometrics, Inc.

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Evaluation Study and Results

The original evaluation study was conducted in the San Francisco Bay Area between 1992 and 1994

Key Intervention Effects

• Reduced number of sex partners
• Reduced unprotected sex

Study Sample
The baseline study sample of 329 men is characterized by the following:

• 100% API (37% Chinese, 34% Filipino, 11% Other, 10% Japanese, and 8% Vietnamese)
• 100% Male
• 95% homosexual or bisexual
• Mean age of 29 years
• 66% completed college education

Recruitment Settings
Community venues including homosexual API organizations, bars catering to homosexual APIs, street fairs sponsored by general gay or Asian-American communities and local gay newspaper ads.

Eligibility Criteria
Asian or Pacific Islander men were eligible if they were engaged in same-gender sex, 18 years or older, and non-injection drug users

Assignment Method
API men (N = 329) were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 groups, using a 2:1 ratio: Brief Counseling (n = 208) or wait list control (n = 121).

Comparison Group
The wait list control received the intervention 3 months later

Relevant Outcomes Measured and Follow-up Time
Sex behaviors during past 3 months (including number of sex partners and having any unprotected anal intercourse) were measured at 3-month follow-up.

Participant Retention

• Intervention:

  73% retained at 3 months

• Control:

88% retained at 3 months

Significant Findings

• Intervention participants reported significantly fewer sex partners than control participants at the 3-month follow-up (p < .001). This significant intervention effect was also found among the sub-sample of men with 0-1 sex partners at baseline (p < .05), among men with ≥ 2 sex partners at baseline (p < .01), and among Chinese and Filipino men combined (p < .01).
• Among Chinese/Filipino men, intervention participants were significantly less likely to report unprotected anal intercourse compared to control participants at the 3-month follow-up (p < .05).

Considerations
The intervention effect on unprotected anal intercourse was not found to be significant for the overall sample or for the diverse sub-sample of API men who were not Chinese or Filipino. The intervention’s most consistent effect was on reduction in the number of sex partners.

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References and Contact Information

• Choi, K. -H., Lew, S., Vittinghoff, E., Catania, J. A., Barrett, D. C., & Coates, T. J. (1996). The efficacy of brief group counseling in HIV risk reduction among homosexual Asian and Pacific Islander men. AIDS, 10, 81-87.

Researcher: Dr. Kyung-Hee Choi, Center for AIDS Prevention Studies (CAPS), AIDS Research Institute, University of California, San Francisco, 50 Beale Street, Suite 1300, San Francisco, CA 94105.
email: kyung-hee.choi@ucsf.edu.

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