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This study describes the perceived influence of group-level HIV interventions on persons living with HIV in Los Angeles, California. Funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and developed by a broad range of community organizations, group-level interventions ranged from small skills-building workshops to large educational forums and to intensive weekend gatherings. Recognizing the relationship between psychosocial factors and HIV-related risk taking, these interventions were designed not only to provide HIV prevention education and develop risk reduction skills but also to bring people together to facilitate the formation of supportive relationships. The formative data presented here are based on 35 qualitative interviews conducted with a sample of intervention participants. Interviews highlight the experiential opportunities that group interventions offer with respect to HIV knowledge, social support, HIV disclosure skills, and HIV risk reductions. Participants talked highly of their experiences in group-level interventions, suggesting that they should be considered an important prevention strategy for people living with HIV.

The study examined behavioral, relationship, and serostatus variables that potentially contribute to HIV infection risk in three age groups of men who have sex with men (MSM). MSM recruited in West Hollywood, California self-administered a questionnaire measuring unprotected insertive anal intercourse (UIAI) and unprotected receptive anal intercourse (URAI) with primary and nonprimary partners. The following relationship/serostatus variables were also assessed: recency of HIV testing, knowledge of own HIV serostatus, perception of partner's serostatus, seroconcordance (self and partner seronegative), and self-reported monogamy status. The prevalence of UIAI and URAI was higher with primary than nonprimary partners. These sexual risk behaviors with primary partners were substantially more prevalent among men younger than 25 years of age than among men aged 25 to 30 or over age 30. UIAI and URAI with nonprimary partners were uncommon in each age group, and there were no significant age differences on the serostatus and relationship variables. The findings suggest that young MSM may be at elevated risk for contracting HIV by virtue of their sexual risk behavior with primary partners. Targeted interventions for MSM need to address sexual risk in the context of primary relationships.

Objective: To examine the sexually protective role of knowing person(s) with HIV/AIDS (PWHA) by conducting a multidimensional analysis distinguishing the number of PWHA known (by disease status and relationship category) and aspects of the relationship with the closest PWHA (emotional closeness, length of time known, disease status, type of relationship)., Design: Cross-sectional study of white, Latino, and African-American men who have sex with men recruited at street locations in West Hollywood, California, in 1997., Methods: The analyses conducted with linear regression models focused on men (n = 334) who reported that they were seronegative or of unknown serostatus and thus at risk for HIV infection. Unprotected sex was defined as percentage of anal intercourse partners in the past 12 months with whom unprotected anal intercourse (UAI) occurred at least once., Results: The number of PWHA known was not associated with the percentage of UAI partners in multivariate or univariate analyses. Greater emotional closeness to a person who was HIV-positive without AIDS was associated with reduced UAI in multivariate models even after excluding participants whose close PWHA was a lover or sex partner. Younger men (18-25 years) knew fewer PWHA, reported less emotional closeness to a PWHA, and had a higher level of UAI than did older men., Conclusions: Emotional closeness to a seropositive person without AIDS may be a sexually protective factor. The results suggest the possibility that lower levels of emotional closeness to a PWHA may partially underlie the elevated sexual risk behavior of younger men who have sex with men.