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Project START

An Evidence-Based Practice

Description

Project START is a sexually transmitted disease (STD) prevention program sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for young men aged 18-29 years who are leaving prison. Young men who are incarcerated have disproportionate rates of HIV, STDs, and hepatitis. Project START provides HIV/STD education and skills building to these men before they leave prison and return to the community. The project has sites at eight state prisons in California, Mississippi, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin, and the extended intervention includes two pre-release sessions and continues with four individual sessions at 1, 3, 6, and 12 weeks post-release. These sessions focus on harm reduction, problem solving, enhancing motivation for behavioral change, and facilitating access to existing community services.

Goal / Mission

The goal of Project START is to reduce sexual risk behavior of young men re-entering the community after incarceration.

Results / Accomplishments

Project START has reached over 500 inmates at 8 prisons nationwide. At 24 weeks post-release (12 weeks after the final intervention session) participants in the Project START enhanced intervention group were significantly less likely to report unprotected vaginal or anal intercourse during their most recent sexual encounter than those who received only a single session intervention (59% vs 69%). They were also significantly less likely to report any unprotected intercourse over the reporting periods (68% vs 78%) and less likely to have unprotected intercourse with their main partner (54% vs 66%). These data show that a multi-session intervention that bridges incarceration and community re-entry such as Project START is successful at reducing sexual risk behavior.

About this Promising Practice

Organization(s)
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Primary Contact
Richard J. Wolitski, PhD
Prevention Research Branch
Divisions of HIV and AIDS Prevention
National Center for HIV, STD, ad TB Prevention
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
1600 Clifton Rd NE (MS E-37)
Atlanta, GA
rwolitski@cdc.gov
https://effectiveinterventions.cdc.gov/en/highimpa...
Topics
Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases
Community / Crime & Crime Prevention
Health / Prevention & Safety
Organization(s)
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Source
American Journal of Public Health
Date of publication
Oct 2006
Date of implementation
2001
Location
USA
For more details
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC158613...
Target Audience
Adults
Additional Audience
Prison Inmates

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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.