Researchers have designed an intervention meant to empower young transgender women that has succeeded in lowering their rate of condomless intercourse, Reuters Health reports.

Publishing their findings in JAMA Pediatrics, investigators worked with the trans community to design an intervention called Project LifeSkills that consisted of six two-hour group sessions that trans women participated in over a three-week period. The sessions encouraged the development of life skills such as securing employment and housing, getting connected to medical care and fostering self-esteem and personal empowerment.

The study enrolled 190 sexually active trans women between ages 16 and 29 at community-based centers in Chicago and Boston. They were randomized to receive the intervention (116 did so), the standard of care (74 women) or to participate in a control group (43 women). During the study, its Data Safety Monitoring Board recommended the discontinuation of the control group.

The participants reported to the study authors the number of condomless sex acts they had engaged in during the previous four months before entering the study and then at four, eight and 12 months afterward.

Among those who received the intervention, the number of recent acts of condomless intercourse declined from 2.26 at the study’s outset to 1.22 four months later, while those who received the standard of care reported a respective 2.69 and 2.1 condomless sex acts at these points. Consequently, the researchers concluded that the intervention was associated with a 31 percent reduction in the women’s condomless sex rate after four months.

Twelve months into the study, the women in the intervention group reported 0.71 recent condomless sex acts, compared with 1.4 acts in the standard of care group. This means that the intervention was associated with a 40 percent reduction in such acts by this point in time.

To read the study, click here.

To read an accompanying editorial published in the journal, click here.

To read a press release about the study, click here.