HIV/STD Prevention Interventions for Couples and Families: A Review and Introduction to the Special Issue

While tremendous progress has been made in the prevention and treatment of HIV, individuals continue to be at risk of acquiring HIV. There is increased recognition that interventions need to target couples and families in at-risk populations. This article provides an introduction to this special issue on couples, families, and HIV and a review of research on couple and family interventions for prevention of HIV. The section on couples focuses on prevention programs for heterosexual couples while the section on families focuses on family based prevention programs for adolescents. This review demonstrates the efficacy of couple and family interventions to reduce HIV risk behavior and to increase other HIV-related behaviors in couples and to prevent HIV risk behaviors in families. Implementation of these evidenced-based interventions in couple and family practice are discussed.