HIV AIDS Risk and Prevention Work

Effects of a Short-Term Housing Program on Homeless Young Adults’ Resilience and Risk

Tags HIV AIDS Risk and Prevention

The study explores pathways to resilience and HIV/STI risk reduction among homeless young adults ages 18-24 through a youth-centric rapid re-housing program.

Project LEAD (Laws to Eliminate Abuse and Diversion)

Tags HIV AIDS Risk and Prevention, Substance Abuse and Prevention

This three-state collaborative project investigates the influence of state laws in Connecticut, Kentucky, and Wisconsin, on the transition from prescription opioids to injecting non-prescription opioids and/or heroin injection.

RISHTA: Reducing Alcohol Consumption to Improve ART Adherence in PLWA in India

Tags HIV AIDS Risk and Prevention, International

The number of people living with HIV in India exceeds 2 million. India faces a major challenge in providing antiretroviral therapy (ART) services in the next decades to several million people who live with or will acquire HIV/AIDS.

Participatory System Dynamics Modeling to Simulate HIV Test-and-Treat Improvements

Tags Community Alliances, Health Disparities, HIV AIDS Risk and Prevention, Specialized Methods

This study uses community participatory system dynamics (SD) group model building (GMB) and multiple data sources to build a SD computational/simulation model of the HIV care continuum in Greater Hartford, CT as a tool to reduce the epidemic.

HIV Community Viral Load (CVL) Study

Tags Community Alliances, Health Disparities, HIV AIDS Risk and Prevention, Specialized Methods

This study is designed to engage multiple community stakeholders, including providers and people with HIV, to develop a comprehensive system dynamics model that can be used to understand how systemic processes affect HIV community viral load (CVL).

A Study of the Risks and Resilience of Unstable Housed Youth

Tags HIV AIDS Risk and Prevention, Youth

This pilot study sought to understand the risks and resilience of unaccompanied unstably housed youth living in small urban areas in Connecticut with high HIV prevalence, and to pilot test an internet-based peer recruitment methodology (webRDS) to reach groups of youth who are not using services.

AIDS Risk in Older Adult Senior Housing Residents

Tags HIV AIDS Risk and Prevention, Older Adults

The goal of this study was to explore the drug and sexual risks that contributed to the spread of HIV among minority, lower income adults living in senior housing and shelters in Hartford, CT and Chicago, IL. The study considered whether older adult buildings in neighborhoods where injection drug use is common can be central locations for high-risk activities and associated HIV transmission. Research results were used as a foundation for individual and group-based intervention strategies appropriate for this population.

Comprehensive Elementary School AIDS Education

Tags HIV AIDS Risk and Prevention, Youth

The Comprehensive Elementary School AIDS Education project tested the effectiveness of a comprehensive AIDS education curriculum in public elementary and middle schools in New Haven, CT. Based upon theories of social cognition and influence, the curriculum includes problem-solving and communication skills development, and peer-education. The project was centered at the Yale University School of Medicine; ICR staff coordinated the process evaluation.

International Initiatives to Prevent HIV/STD

Tags HIV AIDS Risk and Prevention, International

This study addressed the difficulty encountered in trying to engage males in reproductive health education, sexual risk and early HIV/STD treatment in three urban communities in Mumbai, India. The project tested an intervention approach that addresses culturally- based perceptions of masculinity, vitality, sexual performance and fertility as HIV/STD risk indicators.

Multilevel Female Condom Intervention

Tags Community Alliances, HIV AIDS Risk and Prevention, Specialized Methods

This 4-year study sought to enhance HIV prevention by increasing community-wide availability, accessibility, and support for use of the female condom to reduce transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections as well as pregnancy.

Translation of the Risk Avoidance Partnership (RAP) for Drug Treatment Clinic Implementation

Tags Community Alliances, HIV AIDS Risk and Prevention, Specialized Methods, Substance Abuse and Prevention

The goal of this 3-year study was to translate the Risk Avoidance Partnership (RAP) project for implementation in outpatient drug treatment clinics and to pilot test the modified intervention in two methadone clinics.

A Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis of Perceived Risk for HIV

Tags Health Disparities, HIV AIDS Risk and Prevention

This developmental study investigated the underlying dimensions and meanings of perceived HIV risk/susceptibility among young, urban men who have sex with men (MSM) of diverse ethnic backgrounds. Qualitative research was used to assess meanings underlying traditional measures of perceived risk. Results from qualitative analysis were used to develop a psychometrically sound scale of Perceived Risk for AIDS. This project provided the groundwork for larger longitudinal studies on the topic.

MDMA Project

Tags HIV AIDS Risk and Prevention, Substance Abuse and Prevention, Youth

The purpose of this study was to discover whether and in what ways MDMA contributes to sexual behavior and decision making, and when its use is associated with lack of protection.

Drug Use, Housing Access, Stability and HIV Risk Among Low-Income Urban Residents

Tags Health Disparities, HIV AIDS Risk and Prevention, Substance Abuse and Prevention

This 4-year study explored the relationship between structural factors of housing (access to housing subsidies and programs, status and stability) and HIV risk among low-income drug users compared to non-drug users.

China/U.S. Women’s Health Project

Tags HIV AIDS Risk Prevention, International

This was a 5-year study of HIV risk and social dynamics in sex-work establishments conducted in two rural and two mid-sized urban towns in Hainan and Guanxi Provinces, China.

Female Condom Study

Tags Health Disparities, HIV AIDS Risk and Prevention, Substance Abuse and Prevention

This four-year study explored factors that enhance or impede initial and long-term use of female condoms to prevent HIV and other sexually-transmitted infections.

Rollin’ and Dustin’: Pathways to Urban Lifestyles

Tags HIV AIDS Risk and Prevention, Youth

This traveling exhibit, a collaboration of ICR and the Hartford Animation Institute, was designed to present almost 10 years of research findings on the lifestyles and drug use of young people in Hartford, CT. 

Alcohol, Sexual Risk and HIV Prevention in Mumbai, India

Tags HIV AIDS Risk and Prevention, International, Substance Abuse and Prevention

This three-year study investigated how alcohol may contribute to risky sexual activities that lead to HIV transmission among married and unmarried men and their sexual partners in three low income slums in the Mumbai metropolitan area.

Urban Lifestyles: Club Drugs, Resource Inequities and Health Risks in Urban Youth

Tags HIV AIDS Risk and Prevention, Youth

This cutting-edge study examined the mechanisms through which potentially dangerous new club, dance-related and prescription drugs (often referred to as “designer drugs”) were diffusing into the urban environment in Hartford.

Project Protect

Tags Health Disparities, HIV AIDS Risk and Prevention, Substance Abuse and Prevention

This three-year study conducted in Hartford, CT explored readiness for use of vaginal microbicides as HIV prevention among women involved in high-risk activities, such as drug use and risky sex.

Microbicides Acceptability Among Sex Workers in Southern China

Tags HIV AIDS Risk and Prevention, International

This 3-year study examined readiness among female sex workers in Hainan and Guangxi Provinces, China, for vaginal microbicides and the female condom to prevent HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.

Study of High-Risk Drug Use Settings (HRS) for HIV Prevention

Tags HIV AIDS Risk and Prevention

Research on the dynamics and characteristics of high-risk drug use sites and site user social networks to document HIV-related risks and to assess potential of developing AIDS prevention interventions to be implemented in situ. This is Project 3 of the Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS (CIRA).

HIV Prevention in High-Risk Drug Use Sites: Project RAP

Tags Community Alliances, Cultural Conservation, Health Disparities, HIV AIDS Risk and Prevention

This study investigated the efficacy and diffusion of a peer-led HIV prevention intervention, implemented by trained, active substance users in partnership with project staff. It was conducted in high-risk substance use settings. The subsequent longitudinal study investigated long-term behavioral effects of the peer-implemented HIV prevention program on trained active substance users and the substance-using contacts to whom they provided the intervention, diffusion of the intervention and its effects through substance-user social networks, and into substance-use sites in Hartford, CT. It also investigated the sustainability of the peer-led HIV prevention intervention.

Pathways to High-Risk Drug Abuse Among Urban Youth

Tags HIV AIDS Risk and Prevention, Substance Abuse and Prevention, Youth

This 4-year study identified critical factors responsible for the transition from “soft” or “gateway” drug use to “hard” drug use, including injection drug use, among multiethnic inner city young adults in Hartford, CT.