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Behavioral interventions for Cambodian female entertainment and sex workers who use amphetamine-type stimulants

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Abstract

Conditional cash transfer (CCT) and cognitive-behavioral treatments are evidence-based approaches to reduce stimulant use and sexual risk taking. We describe the adaptation and implementation of sequential behavioral interventions for Cambodian female entertainment and sex workers (FESW) who use amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS): (1) a 12-week CCT intervention; and (2) a 4-week cognitive-behavioral aftercare (AC) group. An ongoing cluster randomized stepped wedge trial in 10 Cambodian provinces is enrolling FESW with confirmed recent ATS use to examine the effectiveness of CCT + AC. In the first six provinces, 138 of the 183 eligible FESW (75 %) enrolled in CCT and completed a median of 25 (interquartile range 9–32) of the 36 urine screening visits. Of the 84 participants who were eligible for AC, 79 completed at least one session (94 %) and 57 completed three or more sessions (68 %). Culturally tailored behavioral interventions to reduce ATS use and optimize HIV prevention are feasible in resource-limited settings.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), R01-DA033673 (Page & Stein, PIs). We would like to express our gratitude to Amy Weissman for supporting the implementation of this project, Chim Srean for coordinating data management in the field, and Phou Maly for serving as a facilitator for the aftercare groups. We would also like to thank Drs. Rick Rawson and Steve Shoptaw for their consultation with our team in adapting Matrix Model early recovery and relapse prevention skills for this population. Finally, we would like to express our gratitude for the ongoing support of numerous community-based organization who have made the implementation of this project possible: Cambodian Women for Peace and Development (CWPD), Phnom Srey Organization for Development (PSOD), Poor Family Development (PFD), and KHEMERA.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of California, San Francisco School of Nursing, 2 Koret Way, N511 M, San Francisco, CA, 94143, USA

    Adam W. Carrico

  2. University of California, San Francisco Center for AIDS Prevention Studies, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Adam W. Carrico

  3. Family Health International 360 (FHI 360), Phnom Penh, Cambodia

    Ean Nil, Muth Sokunny & Song Ngak

  4. Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Ministry of Health, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

    Chhit Sophal & Jennifer L. Evans

  5. University of California, San Francisco Global Health Sciences, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Ellen Stein

  6. National Authority for Combatting Drugs, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

    Neak Yuthea

  7. Kirby Institute for Infection and Immunity, UNSW Australia, Sydney, Australia

    Lisa Maher

  8. University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, Albuquerque, NM, USA

    Kimberly Page

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  1. Adam W. Carrico
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  2. Ean Nil
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  3. Chhit Sophal
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  4. Ellen Stein
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  10. Kimberly Page
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Correspondence to Adam W. Carrico.

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Conflict of interest

Adam W. Carrico, Ean Nil, Chhit Sophal, Ellen Stein, Muth Sokunny, Neak Yuthea, Jennifer L. Evans, Song Ngak, Lisa Maher and Kimberly Page declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Human and animal rights and Informed consent

All procedures followed were in accordance with ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000. Informed consent was obtained from all patients for being included in the study.

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Carrico, A.W., Nil, E., Sophal, C. et al. Behavioral interventions for Cambodian female entertainment and sex workers who use amphetamine-type stimulants. J Behav Med 39, 502–510 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-016-9713-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-016-9713-2

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