Family Economic Empowerment, Family Social Support, and Sexual Risk-Taking Behaviors Among Adolescents Living With HIV in Uganda: The Suubi+Adherence Study

Purpose: This study examined the effect of a family economic empowerment (EE) intervention and family support on sexual risk-taking behaviors among adolescents living with HIV in rural Uganda. Methods: We used data from the Suubi + Adherence study, a longitudinal cluster randomized clinical trial of 702 adolescents living with HIV aged 10–16 years. Participants were randomly assigned to either the control arm (n = 358) receiving bolstered standard of care or a treatment arm (n = 344) receiving bolstered standard of care plus the family EE intervention. We used mixed-effects models to examine the effect of the EE intervention and family support on sexual risk-taking behaviors at the baseline, 12 months, and 24 months after intervention initiation. Results: Adolescents in both the intervention and control groups did not differ significantly in their sexual risk-taking attitudes at the baseline and over the 24-month follow-up period. Higher levels of caregiver social support were significantly associated with a decrease in attitudes toward sexual risk-taking (ß = −.40, 95%CI = −.51, −.29). More frequent parent-child communication was significantly associated with increased negative sexual risk-taking attitudes (ß = .21, 95%CI = .16, 26). Conclusions: Although we find no direct relationship between family EE and attitudes related to sexual risk-taking behaviors, we find that a supportive family environment can promote positive attitudes related to sexual risk-taking behaviors. The effectiveness of sexual risk reduction interventions would be enhanced by engaging families and strengthening supportive relationships between adolescents and their caregivers.