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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Sudha Rani Raminani, MS¹, Glenn Williams, BA², Judith Bradford, PhD¹, and Benjamin D. Perkins, MA, MDiv². (1) The Fenway Institute, Fenway Community Health Center, 7 Haviland Street, Boston, MA 02115, 617-927-6014, sraminani@fenwayhealth.org, (2) AIDS Action Committee, The MALE Center, 571 Columbus Avenue, Boston, MA 02118

BACKGROUND: Community PROMISE PLUS is a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) funded two-site (Boston and Minneapolis) community-level intervention and adaptation project. This project adapts and evaluates a CDC evidence-based behavioral intervention (Community PROMISE) that targets African American HIV+ men who have sex with men (AAHIV+MSM) and provides guidance for the adaptation of HIV prevention interventions to fit new conditions or populations.

METHODS: Longitudinal individual level assessments were conducted with two cohort groups (n=200 each), HIV-/unknown and HIV+. Variables include demographics, vaginal and anal sexual risk and protective behaviors (with main and other sexual partners), drug use, social support, linkage and barriers to care, mental health, medication adherence, viral load, CD4 count, stigma, homo-negativity, disclosure, sexual abuse, and religiosity. Recruitment procedures included distribution of flyers in clinics, service organizations, and at events targeting African-American or MSM groups and use of social networks.

FINDINGS: Baseline data exhibit characteristics associated with a sample of Boston AAHIV+MSM. This data identifies specific AAHIV+MSM risk behaviors and unique psychosocial characteristics associated with risk and protective behaviors. Additional analyses identify sub-populations whose social and cultural characteristics may influence behaviors.

CONCLUSIONS: The AAHIV+MSM community exhibits unique social and cultural characteristics that, once identified and explored, should be incorporated into interventions in order to be appropriately adapted to this target population. HIV risk and protective behaviors reflect social and cultural intricacies that must be fully understood and explored to adequately identify intervention priorities. Results should be considered for incorporation into future, culturally competent, evidence-based AAHIV+MSM focused interventions.

Learning Objectives:

• ˇUnderstand the unique socio-cultural issues associated with African American HIV+ men who have sex with men.
• ˇRecognize the differences in psychosocial characteristics and understand how they influence African American HIV+ men who have sex with men and their sexual identity.
• ˇRecognize and identify methods to understand how interventions can incorporate the unique socio-cultural nuances within varying communities so that HIV Prevention activities can be more effective.

Keywords: African American, HIV Risk Behavior

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation