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Safer Sex Skills Building (SSSB)

An Evidence-Based Practice

Description

The goal of the Safer Sex Skills Building intervention is to decrease unsafe sexual behaviors among heterosexually active women in drug treatment. To meet this goal, the intervention promotes condom use and teaches participants safe sex negotiation skills. Two female counselors deliver the five-session intervention to a small group of between three to eight women over three weeks.

Techniques taught during the sessions, which last approximately 90 minutes each, include active problem solving, behavioral modeling, role-play rehearsal, interval practice, and troubleshooting. Counselors discuss topics such as: HIV prevention, treatment, transmission, testing, and counseling; personal risk assessment and awareness; skills for condom use, safety planning, and safer sex negotiation; partner abuse risk assessment; and "slip" behaviors.

Goal / Mission

The goal of the Safer Sex Skills Building intervention is to decrease unsafe sexual behaviors through increasing condom use, safer sex negotiation skills, and HIV/STD awareness.

Impact

Safer Sex Skills Building decreases unsafe vaginal and anal sexual behaviors and instances.

Results / Accomplishments

At a six-month follow-up, authors report that participants who received the Safer Sex Skills Building intervention reported significantly less occasions of unprotected vaginal or anal sex when compared to participants in the HIV/STD education only comparison group (p<0.04).

About this Promising Practice

Organization(s)
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Primary Contact
Susan Tross
Department of Psychiatry HIV Center for Clinical and Behavioral Studies
New York State Psychiatric Institute
1051 Riverside Drive, Unit 15
New York, NY 10032
st130@columbia.edu
Topics
Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases
Health / Prevention & Safety
Health / Women's Health
Organization(s)
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Date of publication
2015
Date of implementation
2004
Location
USA
For more details
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18645513
Target Audience
Women

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Related Content for: Safer Sex Skills Building (SSSB)

An Evidence-Based Practice meets the following HCI criteria:

  1. The program description includes at a minimum: the sponsoring organization, program goals, program implementation steps, and outcomes that have demonstrated program success in achieving the program goal in one or more localities.
  2. The results from an evaluation of the program include quantitative measures showing improvement in the outcome(s) of interest after the implementation of the program (i.e. increase in smoking cessation, not just the delivery of a smoking cessation program). The outcome measure(s) is/are compared at relevant time periods before and after the intervention or program implementation. Alternatively, the evaluation study compares the outcome(s) between an intervention group and an appropriate control group.
  3. The study is of peer-review quality and presents numbers in a scientific manner; measurements of precision and reliability are included (e.g. confidence intervals, standard errors), results from statistical tests show a significant difference or change in the outcome measure(s), and relevant point estimates and p-values are presented. Note: if the results from an evaluation of a program are presented in a scientific manner and the outcome measure is improved compared to the baseline measurement or the control group but the difference is not statistically significant, the practice is classified as effective and not evidence-based.
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