Sociometrics Corporation — Department of Health and Human Services SBIR Phase II: NIMHD

Description

DESCRIPTION provided by applicant Adapting the SISTA SiHLE WiLLOW HIV Prevention Trilogy for Black Men Who Have Sex with Men MSM Black men who have sex with men MSM have been disproportionately affected by HIV AIDS since the beginning of the epidemic Yet there are very few scientifically demonstrated effective HIV prevention interventions targeting Black MSM This SBIR Phase II project will address this gap and fill an important product niche for community based organizations health departments and clinics serving Black MSM by creating a modular program package and online program builder to support the delivery of the popular SISTA SIHLE WILLOW HIV prevention suite with Black MSM an interactive computer delivered version of the adapted program and an online forum to provide updated resources and enable practitioners to share program implementation concerns and experiences We will also conduct a arm quasi experimental outcome study in three states to assess the effectiveness of these programs in reducing HIV risk behaviors among Black MSM The project offers many innovations including the creation of the first evidence based computer delivered HIV prevention program specifically designed for Black MSM the development of a modular program package and online program builder to tailor program content for different sub populations of Black MSM the presentation of risk reduction activities within an explicit sexual health harm reduction framework an approach called for by practitioners and public health officials in recent years Goldhanner andamp Mayer Grossman et al Wolitski andamp Fenton a discussion of the pros and cons of pre exposure prophylaxis PREP as an HIV prevention strategy the inclusion of andquot seroadaptiveandquot risk reduction practices Wei et al in the outcome study to assess the wide range of harm reduction practices currently practiced by Black MSM and an online practitioner forum In sum the projectandapos s combination of a modular adaptation package online program builder computer delivered intervention and practitioner forum provides a model to support the cost effective implementation of evidence based programs on a wide range of public health issues in diver implementation contexts PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE Black men who have sex with men MSM have been disproportionately affected by the HIV AIDS epidemic in the United States and Black MSM aged have the highest new HIV infection rate of any group of MSM or African Americans This project will help reduce new HIV infections among Black MSM by developing a version of the popular SISTA SiHLE WiLLOW HIV prevention trilogy specifically tailored for implementation with Black MSM creating a hour long computer delivered version of the adapted program and conducting a quasi experimental arm trial to test the effectiveness of these programs The projectandapos s combination of a modular adaptation package online program builder and computer delivered intervention provides a model to support the cost effective implementation of evidence based programs to address a wide range of public health issues The outcome study data will also further our understanding of how harm reduction strategies and computer technologies can be utilized to reduce disease risk and promote healthy behaviors more generally