Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)-Related Risk-Taking Behaviors in Women Attending Inner-City Prenatal Clinics in the Mid-West

Abstract

OBJECTIVE:

Federal guidelines recommend the provision of human immunodeficiency virus education to all attendees of prenatal clinics. The current study was conducted to assess risk-taking behaviors among urban women voluntarily pursuing prenatal care.

DESIGN AND SETTING:

African American women attending urban prenatal clinics in Cleveland, Ohio were subjected to an extensive interview before receiving an experimental AIDS education curriculum. The interview sought detailed information regarding demographics, lifetime and recent sexual activity, condom use, and lifetime and recent illicit drug use.

RESULTS:

A total of 1017 women were interviewed; of these women, ∼73% were single. The majority had a monthly income of less than $500. A total of 66% had only one partner in the past year, and almost 90% had ≤1 partner in the past 6 months. A total of 98% identified a main partner. Nearly all subjects were at least fairly certain that this partner did not use intravenous drugs, and 71% were at least fairly certain that he was monogamous. Only 19% used condoms most or all the time. Intravenous drug use among study subjects was very infrequent.

CONCLUSION: These data indicate that inner-city Cleveland women seeking prenatal care are largely monogamous around the time of their gestation, and that a history of intravenous drug use is infrequent. They suggest that prenatal counseling in urban clinics will need to address women who largely are engaged in single-partner relationships at the time of the intervention.