Supporting Healthy Alternatives through Patient Education: A Theoretically Driven HIV Prevention Intervention for Persons Living with HIV/AIDS

In the third decade of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, empirically based HIV transmission risk reduction interventions for HIV infected persons are still needed. As part of a Health Resources Services Administration/Special Projects of National Significance initiative to increase prevention services among HIV infected persons, we implemented SHAPE (Supporting Healthy Alternatives through Patient Education). SHAPE is a behavioral HIV prevention intervention delivered to HIV infected persons receiving primary medical care at El Rio Health Center in Tucson, Arizona. The SHAPE intervention is based on Kalichman’s “Healthy Relationships for Men and Women Living with HIV–AIDS.” The intervention is interactive and uses a video discussion intervention format where educational activities, movie clips, and discussions are used to provide participants with information and skills to increase their comfort in disclosing their HIV status and in reducing HIV transmission. This paper describes the intervention in sufficient detail to replicate it in other settings.