Healer Women Fighting Disease Integrated Substance Abuse and HIV Prevention Program for African American Women

Healer Women Fighting Disease Integrated Substance Abuse and HIV Prevention Program for African American Women (HWFD) targets African American women who are 13 to 55 years old and at risk of contracting HIV/AIDS and transmitting HIV through unsafe sexual activity and substance abuse. Program participants are referred from agencies that provide services in primarily urban areas with high poverty and unemployment rates. The curriculum is based on African-centered precepts, values, and beliefs tied with a conceptual framework called "culture-ecology," which poses that an understanding of African American culture is central to behavior and behavioral change. Through a process of re-socialization, or "culturalization," HWFD seeks to instill traditional African and African American health- promoting values that can help participants overcome negative social influences. Goals of the intervention include increasing motivation and sense of self-efficacy, decreasing depression and feelings of hopelessness, increasing knowledge about HIV/AIDS, and promoting less risky sexual practices.