Skills training reduced sexual risk behaviours in homeless men with mental illness
Question Can a skills training intervention reduce sexual risk behaviours in homeless men who have mental illness?
Design
Randomised controlled trial with 6 and 18 months follow up.
Setting
200 bed municipal men's shelter in New York City, New York, USA.
Patients
97 men attending a psychiatric outreach programme. 59 of the men were sexually active at baseline (defined as having had vaginal or oral sex in the past 6 mo); most were ≥35 years of age (58%), African-American (58%) or Latino (35%), had not completed high school (56%), and had psychiatric diagnoses of schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder (57%) or major or bipolar depression (27%). For sexually active men, follow up was 100% at 6 months and 95% at 18 months.
Intervention
52 men were allocated to the Sex, Games, and Videotapes (SexG) intervention, which involved 15 interactive sessions (2 d/wk for 8 wks) facilitated by a mental health professional and a paraprofessional. Activities included storytelling, competitive games, acting scenes …
