Group intervention to reduce HIV transmission risk behavior among persons living with HIV/AIDS.
Five short group classes with film role-plays cut unsafe sex among HIV-positive clients.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Researchers ran a five-session group class for adults living with HIV.
Each class used short films, role-play, and feedback to practice safer-sex talk.
Clients joined during regular support-group time, so no extra trip was needed.
What they found
After the course, clients had less unprotected sex, especially with partners who were not HIV-positive.
The drop was large enough to matter in a randomized trial.
How this fits with other research
The result lines up with Carter et al. (1988), who also used behavioral skills training inside a facility to teach job social skills to female prisoners.
It also matches Hansen et al. (1989), where group BST with role-play helped inpatient kids talk better with peers and the gains lasted three months.
DeFriedman et al. (2025) show the same brief BST format works over telehealth for car-seat safety, proving the method travels across goals and settings.
Why it matters
You already know BST works for autism and staff training. This paper shows a five-session group class can also cut HIV risk in adults with substance-use issues. Slip the film-based role-play into existing support groups and you get a double benefit: peer support plus safer behavior.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →Open your next adult group with a two-minute video scene, then have clients rehearse safer-sex negotiation and give instant feedback.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
Results of a randomized controlled trial show that a behavioral intervention grounded in social cognitive theory reduces unprotected sexual behaviors among men and women living with HIV infection, with the greatest reductions in HIV transmission risk behaviors occurring with non-HIV-positive sex partners. In this article, the authors describe the intervention development and intervention content of the social cognitive risk reduction intervention for HIV-positive persons. The effective five group session intervention focused on enhancing motivation through self-reflection and developing coping efficacy skills for HIV disclosure decision making, active listening, assertiveness, and problem solving for disclosure and transmission risk reduction behaviors. Intervention components were tailored for gender and sexual orientation and integrated skills practice sessions used role-plays couched within scenes from popular films. This intervention was demonstrated to be effective in a community-service delivery setting and can be adapted for implementation in HIV-related services delivered within support groups.
Behavior modification, 2005 · doi:10.1177/0145445504272603