Meta-analysis of the effectiveness of HIV prevention interventions for women.

The present study is a meta-analysis of the effectiveness of HIV prevention interventions for women in the USA. Twenty-four articles from 1989-1997 were included. We evaluated five ethnic groupings (All Ethnicities Combined, African-American, White, Hispanic and a Mixed Ethnicity group) over four time periods (post-test, less than two months after the intervention, 2-3 months after the intervention and 6-24 months after the intervention) on three HIV-related sexuality outcome variables (HIV/AIDS knowledge, self-efficacy and sexual risk reduction behaviour). The HIV interventions appear effective at improving knowledge about HIV/AIDS and increasing sexual risk reduction behaviours for all ethnicities examined at all follow-up periods, with one exception. The findings for self-efficacy are less consistent. The interventions were less consistently effective for African-American women, for whom significant improvements in feelings of self-efficacy were only seen six months or longer after the intervention. The present analysis elucidates ethnic differences which may have previously been obscured while demonstrating convincingly that HIV interventions are generally effective for women of many different ethnicities.