Developing an HIV intervention for indigent women substance abusers in the United States Virgin Islands

As the HIV/AIDS epidemic continues to expand and penetrate new communities around the globe, risk reduction intervention initiatives must continue to evolve and adapt to new challenges and populations. This is especially true in the Caribbean Basin, where the feminization of the HIV epidemic is tied to a cultural milieu characterized by pervasive gender inequality. HIV intervention programs in the Caribbean must treat women's risks as a function of the social context, standards, and meanings of sexual behaviors and practices in the local community. As such, this article describes an initiative to develop an HIV prevention-intervention protocol for the cultural context of substance abusing women in the US Virgin Islands. Through street-based survey research combined with focus groups and in-depth interviews with such "cultural insiders" as members of the substance-abusing target population, members of the local public health and social services system, and community leaders, a culturally sensitive HIV/AIDS protocol was developed which addresses the supports and barriers to risk reduction faced by substance abusing women in the Virgin Islands.