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

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 project tests the effects of cognitive-behavioral interventions on quality of life and psychosocial and health status indices in a randomized controlled trial with ethnically representative women with HIV/AIDS.  These women are recruited from the three largest AIDS epicenters: Miami, Florida; Newark, New Jersey; and Bronx, New York. The study includes African-American, Caribbean, and Hispanic women who have been diagnosed with case-defined AIDS, and includes sessions in English, Spanish, and Creole.  In addition, SMART/EST II incorporates a "healthy living" component.  This component aims to impart knowledge about specific lifestyle issues, increase adherence to health promoting behaviors, and to reduce the rate of disease transmission and progression through 5 components, which includes physical activity, nutrition, medication adherence, harm reduction, and safer sex.

The 16-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:	March 1, 2001 – February 20, 2006
# 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:	$4,151,355
Contact:	Yolene Gousse, MPH, Project Director Tel: (212) 382-0699 ext. 224 E-mail:info@CDNetwork.org