Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Women represent 15% of the people living with HIV in Chile. Risk behaviors for HIV are: multiple partners, unsafe sex, and exchange of sex for drugs/money. METHODOLOGY: A correlational design was used. A sample of 203 women who were sexually active and consumed substances within the last 3-months were selected for this study. RESULTS: The average age of the participants was 32.4 years (SD = 9.2) and 68.1% were housewives. The substance most commonly used was alcohol (95.1%) and marijuana (49.8%); 23.7% of the women were drunk or drugged before having sex; 74.4% had multiple sexual partners and 95.6% had unprotected sex. There is a significant correlation (p < 0.05) between substance abuse and HIV risk behaviors. CONCLUSION: It is necessary to develop more research to understand in depth the relationship between substance use and HIV risk among Chilean women. It is important to consider the use of substances to develop and implement HIV prevention programs in the Chilean community.