A Self-Guided Intervention to Promote Condom Use Among African American Males

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has declared that AIDS is a "state of emergency" in the US for African Americans - young African American men are especially vulnerable in this epidemic. Thus, the development of effective interventions tailored to this population is a national priority. The investigators previous preliminary studies suggest that a brief, clinic-initiated, home-based, self-guided condom use program may effectively promote the acceptance of condom use and increase the quality and consistency of condom-protected sexual behaviors. This pilot study will (1) develop and test the feasibility of this program (Homework Intervention Strategy, HIS) for young African American men attending an urban STD clinic and (2) identify variables that may mediate the efficacy of the program. The HIS has the potential to be readily translated into widespread practice, while requiring only minimal resources. Unlike previously tested interventions, the HIS can be applied to all men who use condoms, regardless of the sex of their partners or their HIV/STI status. To develop the HIS to meet the needs of these high-risk men, the proposed study will include a formative phase during which the basic intervention "instructions" which will be delivered by DVD will be refined and tailored for this population.

One hundred young African American men recruited from an urban STD clinic will be randomized to each of two groups (HIS vs. "standard of care") in a randomized 2-arm trial with 5 assessment periods over the course of 6 months. Assessments will compare the groups on frequency of unprotected sex, quality of the condom use experience, experience of condom use errors and problems, attitudes regarding condom use, condom use acceptability, and condom use self-efficacy and confidence.