Interventions

Interventions for People Living with HIV

Healthy Living Project

Healthy Living Project (HLP) Healthy Living is a 3-module/15-session intervention that is delivered one-on-one to people living with HIV. Each of the 3 modules consists of 5 sessions, and each is designed to improve quality of life in a different broad area of health: physical, mental, and sexual. HLP is one of the CDC’s Best-Evidence Interventions. (posted 1/09)

Project Accept

Project Accept is an HIV prevention trial in which 34 communities in Africa (in South Africa, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe) and 14 communities in Thailand are being randomized to receive either a community-based HIV voluntary counseling and testing (CBVCT) intervention plus standard clinic-based VCT (SVCT), or SVCT alone. The CBVCT intervention has three major strategies: (1) to make VCT more available in community settings; (2) to engage the community through outreach; and (3) to provide post-test support. These strategies are designed to change community norms and reduce the risk for HIV infection among all community members, irrespective of whether they participated directly in the intervention. (posted 7/10) The HIV InSite website provides curricula, training guides, participant and interventionist manuals, evaluation forms, logs, worksheets, guidelines, etc for the following:

Mental Health for HIV+ Gay Men 

The CHANGES Project: A Clinical Trial of Coping Effectiveness Training for HIV+ Gay Men is an innovative, theory-based coping intervention. The intervention–Coping Effectiveness Training–is designed to assist HIV+ gay men to stay mentally healthy despite the ongoing stress of HIV infection. The study will look at the problems of maintaining intervention effects, evaluating effects on quality of life and adherence to medical care, and testing new advances in stress and coping theory. (posted 10/04)

Action Point

Action Point Center is a storefront medication adherence program for homeless people with HIV. Most clients also suffer from mental illness and/or substance use. Program components include: medication storage/dispensing, pharmacist consultation, acupuncture, adherence devices, monetary incentives, case management, and nursing services. Action Point is independent of any health care facility. Clients receive primary HIV care from a wide variety of providers in both community and private clinic settings. Action Point is a collaborative effort between the Department of Public Health and the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. (posted 4/03)

HRSA SPNS Latino(a) Initiative for culturally tailored HIV Care

Tailored navigation programs support Mexicans and Puerto Ricans in engaging HIV care in the U.S. Developing trusting and supportive relationships between navigators and clients and empowering clients to connect and stay in primary care were important themes in their experience.  Read the full article.

Enhancing Engagement and Retention in Quality HIV Care for Transgender Women of Color

From 2012 to 2017, the TETAC provided the HRSA Enhancing Engagement and Retention in Quality HIV Care for Transgender Women of Color initiative with expert leadership in the multi-site evaluation and dissemination of findings and technical assistance (TA) and capacity building to improve the timely entry, engagement, and retention in HIV primary care for transwomen of color. Read more here.

Enhancing Prevention with Positives Evaluation Center (EPPEC)

15 sites implemented different interventions specifically tailored to the local client population and environment. Interventions range from brief counseling delivered by primary care providers during regular visits to individual risk reduction counseling delivered by prevention specialists, and to peer-led group sessions. Some sites used a combination of models and several sites are delivering intervention services in more than one clinical setting. Read more here.


HIV Stigma Intervention

The DRISTI Intervention (Drive Against Stigma)

The DriSti (DRIve Against STIgma) Trial is an HIV stigma-reduction intervention for nursing students and ward staff (i.e., staff who assist with hospital patient care, including transporting patients and changing bed sheets) in Bangalore, Mysore, and Mangalore in Karnataka state, India.  Download intervention description .word doc.  DriSti training videos (YouTube).


Interventions for Gay and Bisexual Men

The Mpowerment Project 

The Mpowerment Project is a community-level HIV prevention intervention designed to reduce the frequency of unprotected anal intercourse among young gay/bisexual men, ages 18-29, by mobilizing young gay men to support each other about safer sex and to build a stronger, healthier young gay men’s community. It is the only scientifically developed and empirically tested intervention that has been shown to reduce HIV sexual risk taking behaviors among young gay men.

Project Explore (more here)

Explore is a nationwide HIV prevention behavioral trial involving nearly 4,300 men who have sex with men. Explore is one of the largest behavioral studies of its kind, and includes participants recruited from six cities: Boston, Chicago, Denver, New York, San Francisco, and Seattle. (posted 8/06)

African-American Men’s Health Study 

Many Black gay men are at high risk for HIV, yet few programs exist for them, and even fewer have been evaluated for effectiveness. The African-American Men’s Health Study (AAMHS) represents the first published attempt to develop and evaluate the impact of a culturally appropriate, community-based, HIV risk reduction intervention designed to change high-risk sexual behaviors among African-American homosexual and bisexual men Bay area of California. (posted 9/96)

Youth Interventions


Draw the Line, Respect the Line 

CAPS and ETR Associates researchers developed a curriculum to assist sixth, seventh and eighth-grade students in postponing sexual activity and using protection if they are sexually active. The curriculum has many characteristics that are shared by successful HIV prevention and sex education curricula.

Healthy Oakland Teens 

NOTE: The HOT Project ended in 1995. For a list of more recent, effective school-based sexuality/HIV education programs, please see:

The Healthy Oakland Teens Project (HOT) began in the fall of 1992 at an urban, ethnically diverse junior high school. The project’s goal is to reduce adolescents’ risk for HIV infection by using peer role models to advocate for responsible decision making, healthy values and norms, and improved communication skills. (posted 4/98)

International Interventions

HIV counseling and testing in developing countries (more here)

In developing countries where health resources are severely limited, debate continues regarding the relative amount that should be spent on HIV counseling and testing. While HIV counseling and testing has been promoted as effective for prevention, few controlled studies have been conducted.The Voluntary HIV Counseling and Testing Efficacy study was a randomized clinical trial of the effectiveness of HIV counseling and testing for the prevention of new HIV infections. The study was conducted at three sites: Nairobi, Kenya; Dar-Es- Salaam, Tanzania; and Port-of-Spain, Trinidad. (posted 9/98)