Interventions help reduce high-risk sex

LOS ANGELES, June 5 (UPI) -- Interventions help cut high-risk sex in HIV-positive African-American and Hispanic men who were sexually abused as children, U.S. researchers said.

Sexual-issue focused interventions decreased risky behavior significantly more than the other health interventions from the beginning of the study to the immediate post-program survey, study leader Dr. John Williams, of the University of California, Los Angeles.

Williams said the social support the participants found in groups where they were able to share their experiences -- including childhood sexual abuse -- likely contributed to the outcome.

The 137 participants -- gay and bisexual men abused as children -- were assigned to an intervention program focused either on sexual issues or one focused on general health. Each program had six weekly, two-hour sessions of five to seven men either all African American or all Hispanic led by an ethnically matched mentor. Follow-ups were conducted after the last session, as well as three and six months later.

"Changing one's behavior is difficult," Williams said in a statement. "We see that with all sorts of behaviors, like smoking and dieting. But with sex, it's even more difficult."

The study, published in Archives of Sexual Behavior, was part of a three-year project to develop and test HIV risk-reduction interventions.