Community-level HIV prevention for persons with severe mental illness living in supportive housing programs: a pilot intervention study

Individuals with severe mental illness (SMI) are at risk for HIV/AIDS. Despite the availability of supportive community programs for those with SMI, there have been no published evaluations of community-level HIV prevention trials among this population. A pilot intervention trial was conducted to determine the feasibility of such an intervention in supportive housing programs (SHPs). A multi-component community-level trial was implemented in two SHPs with a total of 28 residents. Participants completed assessments at three time points: prior to the intervention (baseline), following skills training (post-assessment), and following the 4-month community intervention (follow- up). Results demonstrated significant improvements in psychosocial risk factors at both post- and follow-up assessments, with indications of sexual behavior change at follow-up. The community-level intervention appeared to reduce the risk of HIV among persons with SMI living in SHPs, and supports the importance of conducting larger scale intervention trials.