Effectiveness of psychoeducational interventions in reducing emotional distress after human immunodeficiency virus antibody testing
S. Perry, B. Fishman, L. Jacobsberg, J. Young and A. Frances
Cornell University Medical College, New York Hospital, NY.
To examine the effectiveness of three psychoeducational interventions in
reducing emotional distress after voluntary serologic testing for human
immunodeficiency virus-1,307 physically asymptomatic adults were randomly
assigned to standard counseling, counseling plus a three-session
interactive video program, or counseling plus six individual sessions of
stress prevention training. Subjects were evaluated using five standardized
distress measures at entry and 3 months later. Among the 204 human
immunodeficiency virus-seronegative subjects, mean distress measures
decreased significantly after all three interventions without differential
treatment effects. Among the 103 human immunodeficiency virus-seropositive
subjects, mean distress measures decreased significantly after the stress
prevention training and did not significantly increase in the other two
interventions. We conclude that stress prevention training is particularly
helpful after notification of human immunodeficiency virus seropositivity.
