Digital Interventions Library

CDC Behavioral Interventions

Click on the linked text at the beginning of each description to go to the CDC website for that intervention.

CLEAR: Choosing Life: Empowerment! Action! Results! is an evidence-based, health promotion intervention for males and females ages 16 and older living with HIV/AIDS or at high-risk for HIV. CLEAR is a client-centered program delivered one-on-one using cognitive behavioral techniques to change behavior.

¡Cuídate!, which means "take care of yourself," is a culturally-based, group-level intervention to reduce HIV sexual risk behavior among Latino youth. It is based on Social Cognitive Theory, Theory of Reasoned Action, and Theory of Planned Behavior, and incorporates cultural beliefs that are common among Latino subgroups and associated with sexual risk behavior.

Connect is a six session, relationship-based intervention that teaches couples techniques and skills to enhance the quality of their relationship, communication, and shared commitment to safer behaviors.

d-up: Defend Yourself! is a community-level intervention designed for and developed by Black men who have sex with men (MSM). d-up! isdesigned to promote social norms of condom use and assist Black MSM to recognize and handle risk related racial and sexual bias.

Focus on the Future (FOF) is a peer-delivered, clinic-based, single-session, individual-level behavioral intervention. FOF aims to educate and motivate clients to use condoms correctly and consistently in order to reduce the spread of HIV and other STDs.

The Future Is Ours (FIO) is a small group, cognitive-behavioral intervention. The intervention consists of eight two-hour interactive sessions delivered over eight weeks to heterosexually active women living in high-risk communities.

Focus on Youth (FOY) is a community-based, eight session group intervention that provides youth with the skills and knowledge they need to protect themselves from HIV and other STDs. The curriculum, founded on the Protection Motivation Theory, uses fun, interactive activities such as games, role plays and discussions to convey prevention knowledge and skills. FOY targets African American youth, ages 12-15. There is also a short component for parents, Informed Parents and Children Together (ImPACT), that assists them in areas such as parental monitoring and effective communication.

Healthy Love is a single session, evidence-based, safer sex intervention developed for African American women. It is delivered to small groups of women that share a social connection (e.g., friends, sororities, neighborhoods, etc.) in settings of their choosing.

Healthy Relationships is a five-session, small-group intervention for men and women living with HIV/AIDS. It is based on Social Cognitive Theory and focuses on developing skills and building self-efficacy and positive expectations about new behaviors through modeling behaviors and practicing new skills.

The Holistic Health Recovery Program (HHRP) is a 12-session, manual-guided, group-level program for HIV-positive and HIV negative injection drug users. NOTE: CDC does not offer trainings for Holistic Health Recovery Program (HHRP). However, the intervention implementation materials are available for download from Yale University School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry.

Many Men, Many Voices (3MV) is a seven-session, group-level HIV and STD prevention intervention for black gay men. The intervention addresses factors that influence the behavior of black men who have sex with men, including cultural, social, and religious norms; interactions between HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases; sexual relationship dynamics; and the social and psychological influences that racism and homophobia have on HIV risk behaviors. 3MV is designed to be delivered by two culturally competent facilitators in groups of up to 12 clients.

Modelo de Intervención Psicomédica (MIP) is a holistic behavioral intervention for reducing high-risk behaviors for infection and transmission of HIV among intravenous drug users (IDUs). The intervention is theory-driven and intensive, combining individualized counseling and comprehensive case management over a 3-6-month period. The strategies of motivational counseling, self efficacy, and role induction are used.

Mpowerment is a community-level intervention is for young gay and bisexual men of diverse backgrounds. It mobilizes men to reduce sexual risk taking, encourages regular HIV testing, builds positive social connections and supports peers to have safer sex.

Nia is a six hour, two to four session, video-based, small group level intervention. The goals of this intervention are to educate African American men about HIV/AIDS and its effect on their community, bring groups of men together, increase motivation to reduce risks, and help men learn new skills to protect themselves and others by promoting condom use and increasing intentions to use condoms. Nia is based on the Information-Motivational-Behavioral Skills (IMB). The IMB model assumes that people need information, motivation, and behavioral skills to adopt preventive behaviors. The target population for Nia is African American men (ages 18 and over) who have sex with women.

Partnership for Health (PfH) uses message framing, repetition, and reinforcement during patient visits to increase HIV positive patients' knowledge, skills, and motivations to practice safer sex. The program is designed to improve patient-provider communication about safer sex, disclosure of HIV serostatus, and HIV prevention. Implementation of PfH includes development of clinic and staff "buy-in" and training.

Personalized Cognitive Counseling (PCC) is an individual-level, single session counseling intervention designed to reduce unprotected anal intercourse (UAI) among men who have sex with men (MSM) who are repeat testers for HIV.  PCC focuses on the person's self-justifications (thoughts, attitudes and beliefs) he uses when deciding whether or not to engage in high risk sexual behavior. PCC is a 30 to 50 minutes intervention conducted as a component of Counseling, Testing, and Referral Service (CTRS)for MSM who meet the screening criteria.

Popular Opinion Leader is a community-level intervention involves identifying, enlisting, and training key opinion leaders to encourage safer sexual norms and behaviors within their social networks through risk-reduction conversations.

Project AIM is a group-level youth development intervention designed to reduce HIV risk behaviors among youth. Itis based on the Theory of Possible Selves and encourages at-risk youth to imagine apositive future and discuss how current risk behaviors can be a barrier to a successful adulthood.

Project START is an individual-level, multi-session intervention for people being released from a correctional facility and returning to the community. It is based on the conceptual framework of IncrementalRisk Reduction, and focuses on increasing clients' awareness of their HIV,STI, and Hepatitis riskbehaviors after release and providing them with tools and resources to reduce their risk.

PROMISE: Peers Reaching Out and Modeling Intervention Strategies. This community-level intervention is based on several behavior change theories. A community assessment process is conducted, peer advocates are recruited and trained from the target population, role model stories are written from interviews with the target population, and these stories are distributed along with other risk reduction materials to target audiences to help people move toward safer sex or risk reduction practices.

RAPP: Real AIDS Prevention Project. A community mobilization program, designed to reduce risk for HIV and unintended pregnancy among women in communities at high risk by increasing condom use. This intervention relies on peer-led activities, including: outreach/one-on-one brief conversations with brochures, referrals, and condom distribution; small group safer sex discussions and presentations.

RESPECT: An Effective, Individual, Client-focused HIV Prevention Counseling Intervention. RESPECT is the first individual level intervention to be added to the Diffusion of Effective Behavioral Interventions (DEBI). The RESPECT intervention utilizes a client-focused, interactive HIV risk reduction counseling model based on Project RESPECT.

Safe in the City (SITC) is a 23-minute HIV/STD prevention video for STD clinic waiting rooms. This video has been shown to be effective in reducing sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) among diverse groups of STD clinic patients. Safe in the City aims to increase condom use and other safer sex behaviors, and thereby reduce infections among patients who view the video in the clinic waiting room.

Safety Counts is an HIV prevention intervention for out-of-treatment active injection and non-injection drug users aimed at reducing both high-risk drug use and sexual behaviors. It is a behaviorally focused, seven-session intervention, which includes both structured and unstructured psycho-educational activities in group and individual settings.

Salud, Educación, Prevención, y Autocuidado (SEPA) is a six-session, culturally-tailored, small-group, skills building intervention designed to prevent high-risk sexual behaviors among low-income Latinas. The intervention, delivered to groups of 11-13 women, promotes self-efficacy, builds skills and focuses on topics including: HIV/AIDS in the community, human anatomy and sexuality, education about HIV and other STDs, condom use, negotiation of safer sex, and preventing domestic violence.

The Self-Help in Eliminating Life-threatening Diseases (SHIELD) intervention is based on several theories; Social Cognitive Theory, Social Identity Theory, Cognitive Dissonance (or inconsistency) Theory, and Social Influence Theory.In the SHIELD model of HIV prevention, one individual (a Peer Educator) is taught strategies to reduce HIV risk associated with drug use and sex behavior. In addition, Peer Educators are taught effective communication skills in order to talk with people in their social networks about HIV prevention information.

SIHLE, a group level intervention, is a peer-led, social-skills training intervention aimed at reducing HIV sexual risk behavior among sexually active, African American teenage females, ages 14-18. An adaptation of the SISTA intervention, SIHLE emphasizes ethnic and gender pride, and enhances awareness of HIV risk reduction strategies such as abstaining from sex, using condoms consistently, andhaving fewer sex partners. It consists of four 3-hour sessions, delivered by two peer facilitators (ages 18-21) and one adult facilitator in a community-based setting.

SISTA is a group-level, gender- and culturally- relevant intervention, is designed to increase condom use with African American women. Five peer-led group sessions are conducted that focus on ethnic and gender pride, HIV knowledge, and skills training around sexual risk reduction behaviors and decision making.

Sister to Sister is a brief (20-minute), one-on-one, skill-based HIV/sexually transmitted disease (STD) risk-reduction behavioral intervention for sexually active African American women 18 to 45 years old that is delivered during the course of a routine medical visit.

Street Smart is a multi-session, skills-building program to help youth practice safer sexual behaviors and reduce substance use. Sessions address improving youths' social skills, assertiveness and coping through exercises on problem solving, identifying triggers, and reducing harmful behaviors. Agency staff also provide individual counseling and trips to community health providers.

Together Learning Choices (TLC) is an effective intervention for young people, aged 13 to 29, living with HIV, and it is delivered in small groups. This program helps young people living with HIV identify ways to increase use of health care, decrease risky sexual behavior and drug and alcohol use, and improve quality of life. It emphasizes how contextual factors influence ability to respond effectively to stressful situations, solve problems, and act effectively to reach goals.

VOICES/VOCES: Video Opportunities for Innovative Condom Education & Safer Sex. A group-level, single-session video-based intervention designed to increase condom use among heterosexual African American and Latino men and women who visit STD clinics.

Women Involved in Life Learning from Other Women (WILLOW). The WILLOW intervention isa social-skills building and educational intervention for adult women living with HIV. It consists of4 four-hour sessions which are delivered by two trained adult female facilitators, one of whom is a woman living with HIV.