Kensington Research Institute

Project Neighborhoods in Action (NIA)

Project Neighborhoods in Action (NIA) was a five-year, community-based research and intervention project conducted in Washington, DC between 1994 and 1999. It was funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse as part of a large, 22-site cooperative agreement program. Project NIA targeted users of crack cocaine and/or injected drugs and provided them with HIV-related risk reduction information. Study participants were randomized into one of two research conditions. The first was a "standard intervention" condition, in which they received a 15-20 minute educational/informational session providing them with basic information about HIV, HIV transmission, and steps they could take to reduce their risk for acquiring HIV. The second was an "enhanced intervention" condition, in which they were given the "standard intervention" informational session and then exposed to a 90-minute video-based intervention focusing on thinking about HIV/AIDS-related matters; the risks associated with sharing their cookers, cottons, or rinse water with other persons; how to negotiate safer sexual practices with their partners; and contemplating entry into a drug treatment program. Participants in Project Neighborhoods in Action were interviewed prior to their intervention and again three months later, to measure HIV-related risk behavior changes that they had made in their lives. By the time it ended, Project NIA had enrolled more than 1,600 persons and accomplished a follow-up rate of approximately 85%.

Dr. Hugh Klein from Kensington Research Institute was involved with this project for many years and collaborated with the project’s outreach, intervention, and research staff members both at Koba Associates (where the project began) and at Friends Research Institute (where the project ended). In addition to overseeing the data collection and data management processes for the study, Dr. Klein was also responsible for developing several supplemental questionnaires used as part of Project NIA’s data collection effort. These included assessments of people’s preparedness for entering a drug treatment program, their experiences participating in a local needle exchange program, their sexual and physical abuse experiences (both prior to and during adulthood), their perceived level of empowerment to make affirmative decisions about their lives and what happened to them, and their experiences using shooting galleries.

Dr. Klein also conducted extensive analysis of the Project Neighborhoods in Action data and coauthored numerous paper presentations and published articles with the other research team members. Among many others, papers from this study have been presented at:

	the 1995 Science Symposium on HIV Prevention Research  (topic: the effectiveness of using video-based interventions to help drug abusers reduce their HIV risk)
	the 1996 Women's Health Conference  (topic: gender and drug use classification as predictors of HIV risk)
	the 1997 National Conference on Women and HIV  (topic: HIV risk behaviors among low-frequency and high-frequency crack-using women)
	the 1997 American Public Health Association  (topic: physical, sexual, and emotional abuse as predictors of HIV risk among crack users and injection drug users
	the 1998 College on Problems of Drug Dependence  (topic: experiences using oral testing for HIV with substance abusers)

Among the most important things learned by the work done in conjunction with Project NIA are the following:

	Desired outcomes were obtained in both the "standard" and "enhanced" intervention conditions, with comparable risk behavior reductions noted on most measures regardless of the intervention that people received.
	Both the frequency with which people use crack cocaine and the intensity of their usage affect their level of involvement in HIV risk behaviors.  Clearly, though, high-frequency, high-intensity users engage in considerably greater rates of risky behaviors than those whose frequency and/or intensity of use is lower.
	Entry into drug treatment between intake and follow-up was associated with reduced involvement in HIV risk behaviors.  This was true for drug-related and sexual behavior-related outcomes alike.

Interested in learning more about some of the findings obtained by Project Neighborhoods in Action? If so, click here.