Abstract

PATRAO, Ana Luísa; MCINTYRE, Teresa  and  COSTA, Eleonora. Randomized controlled trial (RCT) in HIV/AIDS prevention among mozambican women. Psic., Saúde & Doenças [online]. 2020, vol.21, n.3, pp.810-822.  Epub Dec 31, 2020. ISSN 1645-0086.  https://doi.org/10.15309/20psd210322.

Randomized controlled trial (RTC) are considered the gold standard in assessing the effectiveness of health interventions. A RTC was developed with the objective of evaluating two HIV/AIDS psychosocial interventions in Mozambican women at risk for infection. The methodology of the study is presented. The study included 173 women outpatients at the gynaecological unit of the Central Hospital of Beira (M= 24.6, SD= 5.5), recruited according to clinical risk criteria. The Women`s Health Study Questionnaire was used, which includes socio-cognitive and behavioural measures relevant to sexual protection, as well as sociodemographic and clinical characterization measures. This is the first research in Mozambique that tests, through a complex longitudinal and experimental study, two HIV/AIDS prevention interventions in the most vulnerable female population. The comparison between two types of intervention helps to understand which are the most important ingredients of each. This differential assessment is important because depending on the situation and the context, one type of intervention may be more appropriate than the other. There is a lack of publications in the Portuguese language on RCTs in the field of health psychology; this paper hopes to contribute to fill this gap in terms of psychological science in AIDS prevention.

Keywords : Randomised controlled study; HIV/AIDS prevention; women's health.

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