Jonathan Ramos/Staff Writer
Upon coming to the University in 2001, Professor of Public Health Robert Malow has directed a slew of research projects within the Department of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention at the Robert Stempel College of Public Health & Social Work at the University.
Under the umbrella of the FIU AIDS Prevention Program, Malow has focused on doing research to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS in various communities.
The most recent study by the APP was published online on Jan. 1, “Cognitive Behavioral HIV Risk Reduction in Those Receiving Psychiatric Treatment: A Clinical Trial,” which was centered in intervening with severely mentally ill (SMI) people who are at risk.
Participating in the study was Malow, Robert C. McMahon, Jessy Devieux, Rhonda Rosenberg, Anne Frankel, Vaughn Bryant, Brenda Lerner and Maria Jose Miguez. Malow was unavailable for comment at press time due to previous engagements.
Although the study confirms that the SMI community has a higher level of HIV risk, there is also a lack of “meaningful improvement” in HIV-prevention knowledge, according to the study. The study was conducted on mentally ill patients over a six week period that concluded with a six month follow up.
“This confirms that this is still a high risk population that is worth intervening with. There may also be some gender difference,” said Devieux, who is a Research Associate Professor of Public Health at the University. “There may also be strategies that can be issued differently within males and females in that population.”
In the study, the group compared enhanced cognitive behavioral skill building intervention and Health Promotion comparison, which are based on Information Motivation Behavior model that states that risk will be reduced if individuals are informed about the topic. The E-CB model focused on information and motivation enhancement while the HPC route stressed the benefits of overall health though effective activities.
Compared to females, males in the E-CB improved on intention to practice safer sex and in condom use skills and in unprotected vaginal sex, but did not differ in HIV knowledge, perceived susceptibility and anxiety, among other risk factors. Across intervention groups, there were improvements in all areas except self efficacy and number of partners.
“There was something going on in the way men and women responded to the intervention,” said Rosenberg, a research assistant professor at the University. “I wouldn’t want to say more about it because what that means is we need to examine it to make conclusions about what is working for men vs. women. We can hypothesize that women may have more burdens in negotiating condom use. Usually it’s going to be a different thing is a women demands a condom be used or a man does.”
“This is actually a characteristic of many studies. If a women requests that a condom be used, even in this day and age, leads certain men to question what kind of women they are morally. You would think it’d be equal now.”
Since the study was based on patient testimony, the accuracy of the study cannot be completely verifiable. However, the promise of confidentiality with patients, along with other methods, increased the probability of validity in the reports.
“We have a number of things to make people comfortable to feel they can be truthful. The bottom line is it’s based on self report. Usually there are a number of questions we ask. We start with the less threatening than we move with the more sensitive issues like sexual behaviors and what they have done as well as drug abuse behavior,” Devieux said. “But people got a consent form and everything they say is strictly confidential. Generally people don’t have a problem being totally honest about what they’ve done, but it’s always a question people have.”
The project, like other APP projects, was funded by the National Institute of Health. The APP has recently submitted a study of adolescents at risk in the juvenile justice system that is awaiting approval.
The study amongst severely mentally ill people is not complete, however.
“I think if we were going to follow up on this study we would want to do something similar to what we just did with juvenile offenders,” Rosenberg said. “Try to distinguish with different subgroups of this population. It’s less clear in that area.”
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