An examination of indirect risk of exposure to HIV among wives of substance-abusing men

• Published in: Drug and alcohol dependence Vol. 70; no. 1; pp. 65 - 76
• Main Authors: Fals-Stewart, William, Birchler, Gary R, Hoebbel, Cassandra, Kashdan, Todd B, Golden, James, Parks, Kathleen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Shannon Elsevier Ireland Ltd 01.05.2003; Elsevier Science
• Subjects: Addictive behaviors; Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Biological and medical sciences; Condoms - statistics & numerical data; Disease Transmission, Infectious; Drug abusers; Drug addiction; Drug users; Exposure; Female; HIV; HIV Infections - transmission; Human immunodeficiency virus; Human viral diseases; Humans; Infectious diseases; Male; Marriage; Marriage - statistics & numerical data; Medical sciences; Men; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Risk behaviors; Risk Factors; Risk-Taking; Risks; Sex Factors; Spouses; Substance Abuse, Intravenous - complications; United States; USA; Viral diseases; Viral diseases of the lymphoid tissue and the blood. Aids; Wives; United States; North America; America; Drug users; Risk behaviors; HIV; Marriage; Human; Immunopathology; Drug addiction; Retroviridae; AIDS; Sexual intercourse; Immune deficiency; Lentivirus; Infection; Virus; Prevention; Spouse; Viral disease; Risk factor; Health hazards; Adult; Human immunodeficiency virus; Biological contamination; Comparative study
• ISSN: 0376-8716; 1879-0046
• DOI: 10.1016/S0376-8716(02)00338-1

The purpose of the present investigation was to explore risk and preventive behaviors for potential HIV exposure among 362 married drug-abusing men entering outpatient treatment and their wives. During the year before entering treatment, 144 husbands (40%) reported they had engaged in sexual or drug use behaviors that placed them at high risk for HIV exposure. Nearly all of the wives of these husbands ( n=138, 96%) reported they had sexual intercourse with their spouses during this same time period. Among these sexually active couples, 108 of the wives (78%) reported that condoms were not regularly used when they had intercourse with their spouses, thus placing them at high risk for indirect exposure to HIV. Seventy-seven (71%) of these 108 wives reported they were not aware their husbands had engaged in high risk behaviors and thus were unknowingly placed at high risk for indirect exposure to HIV. Among those couples with husbands who had engaged in a high risk behavior, longer marriages, a diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder for husbands, and wives' lack of knowledge of husbands' high risk behaviors were uniquely associated with an increased likelihood of wives being placed at high risk for indirect exposure to HIV.