Home > Promising Practices > Self-Help in Eliminating Life-Threatening Diseases (SHIELD)

Self-Help in Eliminating Life-Threatening Diseases (SHIELD)

An Evidence-Based Practice

Description

The Self-Help in Eliminating Life-Threatening Diseases (SHIELD) program utilizes peer networks to reduce drug and sex risk behaviors among low-income African American drug users. Participants in the intervention commit to improve their health behaviors and promote HIV prevention in their community. The intervention uses training and skills building sessions that incorporate goal setting, role playing, demonstrations, and group discussions. Participants are educated about personal risk for HIV and taught risk reduction skills for safer sex and injection drug use. The program emphasizes risk in a community context, and trains participants to perform community outreach and advocate risk reduction among sex and drug partners, family, friends, and other community members.

Goal / Mission

The goal of the SHIELD intervention is to reduce drug and sex risk behaviors.

Results / Accomplishments

At a six moth follow-up the SHIELD intervention group members were three times more likely to report reduction of injection risk behaviors and four times more likely to report increased condom use than those in the control group. Injection drug users in the SHIELD intervention had significantly greater reductions in needle sharing and injection drug use frequency, and were significantly more likely to stop injecting drugs than those in the control group (all p’s < 0.05). Sexually active drug users in the SHIELD intervention reported significantly greater increases in condom use with casual sex partners than those in the control group (p < 0.05).

About this Promising Practice

Organization(s)
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Department of Health, Behavior, & Society
Primary Contact
Dr. Carl A. Latkin
(410) 955-3972
clatkin@jhsph.edu
https://effectiveinterventions.cdc.gov/en/highimpa...
Topics
Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases
Health / Alcohol & Drug Use
Organization(s)
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Department of Health, Behavior, & Society
Source
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Date of publication
2003
Date of implementation
1997
Location
Baltimore, MD
For more details
https://effectiveinterventions.cdc.gov/en/highimpa...
http://www.jhsph.edu/research/centers-and-institut...
Target Audience
Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Related Promising Practices

  1. HIV/STD Risk Reduction Interventions for African American and Latino Adolescent Girls
  2. HIV Wisdom for Older Women
  3. Project START

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An Evidence-Based Practice meets the following HCI criteria:

  1. The program description includes at a minimum: the sponsoring organization, program goals, program implementation steps, and outcomes that have demonstrated program success in achieving the program goal in one or more localities.
  2. The results from an evaluation of the program include quantitative measures showing improvement in the outcome(s) of interest after the implementation of the program (i.e. increase in smoking cessation, not just the delivery of a smoking cessation program). The outcome measure(s) is/are compared at relevant time periods before and after the intervention or program implementation. Alternatively, the evaluation study compares the outcome(s) between an intervention group and an appropriate control group.
  3. The study is of peer-review quality and presents numbers in a scientific manner; measurements of precision and reliability are included (e.g. confidence intervals, standard errors), results from statistical tests show a significant difference or change in the outcome measure(s), and relevant point estimates and p-values are presented. Note: if the results from an evaluation of a program are presented in a scientific manner and the outcome measure is improved compared to the baseline measurement or the control group but the difference is not statistically significant, the practice is classified as effective and not evidence-based.