STRESS MANAGEMENT AND RELAXATION TRAINING/EXPRESSIVE SUPPORTIVE THERAPY (SMART/EST I )

Project Background and Goals:

This project is a collaboration between the University of Miami, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine Research Center and the Clinical Directors Network, Inc. This four-year project seeks to test the effects of cognitive-behavioral interventions on quality of life and psychosocial and health status indices in a randomized controlled trial with 432 ethnically representative women with AIDS. These women will be recruited from the three largest AIDS epicenters: Miami, Florida; Newark, New Jersey; and Bronx, New York; included will be African-American, Caribbean, and Hispanic women who have been diagnosed with case-defined AIDS.

The 10-week cognitive-behavioral stress management (CBSM) intervention to be used in the proposed study has been and is being tested by investigators on this research team in several studies with HIV+ women and gay men, with encouraging findings. This project will test the effects of CBSM with African-American, Caribbean, Hispanic, and Caucasian women at a more advanced stage in the HIV/AIDS disease process and will incorporate additional therapeutic strategies found to be effective by other investigators with people who have life threatening diseases.

Project Time Frame: December 1, 1996 - November 30, 2000

# of Participating Providers: 30 (10 sites between New York & New Jersey; 20 sites in Miami, FL)

Funding Sources: National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

Total Budget : $3,362,399

Contact:

NY/NJ	Jonathan N. Tobin, PhD, Co-PI & President/CEO CDN TEL: (212) 382-0699 ext. 234 FAX: (212) 382-0669 E-MAIL: jntobin@CDNetwork.org
	Andrea Cassells, MPH, Project Director TEL: (212) 382-0699 ext. 227 FAX: (212) 382-0669 E-MAIL: acass@CDNetwork.org
FL	Stephen Weiss, PhD, MPH, Principal Investigator TEL: (305) 243-2103 FAX: (305) 243-2126 E-MAIL: sweiss2@mednet.med.miami.edu
	Mary Ishii, PsyD, Project Director TEL: (305) 243-2103 FAX: (305) 243-2126