Assessment of the Cost-Effectiveness of a Brief Video Intervention for Sexually Transmitted Disease Prevention.

BACKGROUND: Cost-effective, scalable interventions are needed to address high rates of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in the United States. Safe in the City, a 23-minute video intervention designed for STD clinic waiting rooms, effectively reduced new infections among STD clinic clients. A cost-effectiveness analysis of this type of intervention could inform whether it should be replicated. METHODS: The cost-effectiveness of a brief video intervention was calculated under a baseline scenario in which this type of intervention was expanded to a larger patient population. Alternative scenarios included expanding the intervention over a longer period or to more clinics, including HIV prevention benefits, and operating the intervention part time. Program costs, net costs per STD case averted, and the discounted net cost of the intervention were calculated from a health sector perspective across the scenarios. Monte Carlo simulations were used to calculate 95% confidence intervals surrounding the cost-effectiveness measures. RESULTS: The net cost per case averted was $75 in the baseline scenario. The net cost of the intervention was $108,015, and most of the alternative scenarios found that the intervention was cost saving compared with usual care. CONCLUSIONS: Single session, video-based interventions can be highly cost effective when implemented at scale. Updated video-based interventions that account for the changing STD landscape in the United States could play an important role in addressing the recent increases in infections.

Safe in the city: effective prevention interventions for human immunodeficiency virus and sexually transmitted infections.

BACKGROUND: The public health literature documents the efficacy-effectiveness gap between research and practice resulting from the research priority of demonstrating efficacy at the expense of testing for effectiveness. PURPOSE: The Safe in the City video-based HIV/sexually transmitted infection (STI) prevention intervention designed for sexually transmitted disease (STD) clinic waiting rooms is presented as a case study to demonstrate the application of a new framework to bridge efficacy and effectiveness. The goal of the study is to determine the extent to which clinics are implementing the intervention. METHODS: As part of the case study, data were collected from a convenience sample of 81 publicly funded STD clinics during program implementation to determine whether clinics were showing the video. A baseline telephone survey was administered to clinic directors from November to December 2008, and a follow-up was conducted from March to May 2009. Data analysis was completed in 2009. RESULTS: At baseline, 41% of STD clinics were showing Safe in the City, which increased to 58% at follow-up. None reported previous implementation of behavioral interventions delivered in waiting rooms. Almost one fourth of clinics adapted the intervention by showing the video on laptop computers in examination rooms or in other venues with different audiences. CONCLUSIONS: The Safe in the City intervention was implemented by the majority of STD clinics and adapted for implementation. The framework for HIV/STI prevention intervention illustrates how measures of effectiveness were increased in the development, evaluation, dissemination, implementation and sustainability phases of research and program.

Safe in the city: developing an effective video-based intervention for STD clinic waiting rooms.

There is a strong need for inexpensive, easily administered HIV and STD prevention interventions that are highly replicable and appealing to diverse clinic audiences. This article describes the four-step iterative and collaborative process used by the Safe City Study Group to design and develop a brief video-based intervention: Safe in the City. Step 1 involves identification of an appropriate intervention medium, a theoretical framework, and key messages; Step 2, collaboration with a film company to integrate the framework and key messages into an entertaining product; Step 3, facilitation of a multistep participatory process involving input from members of the priority audience (clinic patients), clinic staff, and community reviewers; and Step 4, pilot-testing to determine structural barriers to patients' viewing the video in clinic waiting rooms. Safe in the City has been demonstrated to reduce incident STDs among clinic patients in three cities in the United States.

Early alcohol initiation and subsequent sexual and alcohol risk behaviors among urban youths.

OBJECTIVES: We examined relations between early alcohol use and subsequent alcohol and sexual risk behaviors among urban adolescents. METHODS: A total of 1034 African American and Hispanic youths completed surveys assessing alcohol and sexual behaviors at 7th and 10th grade. After we controlled for early sexual initiation, we examined relations between early drinking and subsequent alcohol and sexual behaviors. RESULTS: Early drinking was associated with alcohol and sexual risks through mid-adolescence. Early drinkers were more likely to report subsequent alcohol problems, unprotected sexual intercourse, multiple partners, being drunk or high during sexual intercourse, and pregnancy. Among females, early drinking was also related to sexual initiation and recent sexual intercourse. CONCLUSIONS: Prevention programs should address combined risks of early alcohol use and sexual intercourse, especially where levels of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections are elevated.