In Project FAST, "at risk" was conceptualized broadly as being at risk for developing a broad array of health-related problems. "At risk" criteria included such characteristics as (1) living in areas known for high rates of drug abuse, (2) being either active users of illegal drugs and/or having an immediate family member who was a substance abuser, (3) being impoverished, (4) lacking adequate medical care and/or health insurance, (5) having a low education level, (6) being unemployed, and (7) having a criminal history. All of the women participating in Project FAST met at least one of these criteria and more than two-thirds of them met at least four of the criteria. Most of the women participating in the study were African American (86%), aged 18-39 (62%), not married at the time of their interviews (87%), and educated at or below the high school level (75%).

Participation in Project FAST entailed pre-participation eligibility screening by an outreach worker and the completion of a 90-minute structured interview with a trained staff member. Approximately one-third of the women who took part in the study were also asked to participate in detailed qualitative interviews focusing on key areas of interest and saliency to their lives (e.g., the impact of substance abuse on their lives and the lives of their family members, experiences with childhood maltreatment, mental health functioning, relationship characteristics, HIV risk behavior practices, attitudes toward using condoms, financial matters, etc.).

After the research team had completed the field work for Project FAST, KRI’s Dr. Hugh Klein was hired to analyze the study data and prepare a variety of papers for presentation at professional conferences and articles for publication in scholarly journals. Examples of the Project FAST papers presented at professional conferences based on this research include:

	Predictors of Tobacco Use among "At Risk" Women  (at the 2003 annual meeting of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco)
	Religiosity and HIV Risk Behavior among Women  (at the 2002 annual meeting of the American Public Health Association)
	Childhood Neglect and Adulthood Involvement in Sexual and HIV-Related Risk Behaviors  (at the 2002 annual meeting of the American Sociological Association)

Many interesting things have been revealed by examining the data from Project FAST:

	Childhood neglect experiences were important predictors of women's adulthood involvement in HIV risk behaviors.  Neglect was more influential than sexual abuse, physical abuse, and emotional abuse.  The impact remained significant even when the effects of demographic characteristics, back ground and experiences measures, psychosocial functioning, and substance use/abuse-related measures were taken into account.
	Psychosocial functioning was related quite closely with women's involvement in risky behaviors.  In particular, lower levels of self-esteem, greater levels of depression, and poorer coping skills were associated with elevated levels of HIV-related behavioral risk.
	Substance use and abuse measures typically predicted levels of HIV risk, too.  The most consequential measure of this type was the number of drug-related problems women experienced, although living with a substance abuser and having two drug-abusing parents often had an adverse effect on HIV-related outcomes, too.

Interested in learning more about some of the main findings from Project FAST? If so, click here.