Abstract
Aims. This study conducted a secondary analysis to examine injection cessation and decreasing frequency of injection during a multisite randomized controlled HIV prevention intervention trial that sought to reduce sexual and injection risk behavior among young injection drug users. Design. A six-session, cognitive behavioral, skills-building intervention in which participants were taught peer education skills (PEI) was compared with a time-equivalent attention control. Follow-up interviews were conducted at three and six months post-baseline. Participants. Trial participants were HIV and HCV antibody negative injection drug users, aged 15 to 30 years. Participants who had at least one follow-up interview, and reported injecting drugs in the previous three months at baseline were eligible for the present analysis (N = 690). Measurements. At each interview, data were collected on the number of times participants injected drugs over the previous three months. Findings. Twenty-seven percent of participants reported at least one three-month period of injection cessation. In a multivariate, zero-inflated negative binomial regression adjusting for prior injection frequency, time of follow-up and psychosocial variables, PEI trial arm and smaller session size were significantly associated with injection cessation. Trial arm had no effect on the frequency of injection among those who continued to inject. Conclusions. HIV prevention interventions that encourage injection drug users to take on the role of peer educator may have the additional benefit of increasing the likelihood of injection cessation. Intervention group size is also an important consideration, with smaller groups having higher rates of cessation.