This project, directed by Deanna Kerrigan at Rutgers School of Public Health, examines the feasibility and potential effectiveness of Conciencia Plena, a mindfulness-based character strengths intervention designed to improve mental health and HIV treatment outcomes among Female Sex Workers (FSWs) living with HIV in the Dominican Republic.

The study aims to:

• assess feasibility and initial efficacy through a pilot randomized trial of 120 women;
• examine pathways linking participation to mental health and HIV outcomes, including mindfulness, character strengths, social cohesion, and stigma reduction; and
• explore participation and implementation experiences among FSWs and project staff.

The team hypothesizes that increasing mindfulness and leveraging character strengths such as curiosity, self-awareness, self-regulation, and perspective taking will improve mental health and HIV treatment adherence. Quantitative data will be collected through pre- and post-test surveys using validated measures, with intention-to-treat and mediation analyses to identify pathways of change. Qualitative data from in-depth interviews with participants and staff will provide insight into implementation and lived experience.

Key outputs include a manualized curriculum and training materials, instructional videos, journal articles, conference presentations, and policy briefs. This study adds an important geographic focus within the Caribbean and contributes to a small but growing body of projects exploring the links between mindfulness, character development, and health, offering opportunities for cross-project learning.

The project responds to the urgent need for effective interventions to address mental health inequities among women in low- and middle-income countries and aims to produce scalable tools for use in other vulnerable communities.