141st APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

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Correlates of sexual risk behavior with male and female partners among African American men who have sex with both men and women (AAMSM/W): Baseline findings from the bruthas project


Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Emily Arnold, PhD, Center for AIDS Prevention Studies/Prevention Research Center, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
Don Operario, PhD, Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences, Brown University, School of Public Health, Providence, RI
Carla Dillard Smith, Pangea, Oakland, CA
Stephanie Cornwell, MA, CAL-PEP, Oakland, CA
Susan Kegeles, PhD, Center for AIDS Prevention Studies/Prevention Research Center, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
The Bruthas Project Team
Background: African American men continue to be disproportionately impacted by HIV, primarily through sexual contact with other men. AAMSM/W may be difficult to recruit into HIV prevention services designed for gay-identified men. The Bruthas Project is an intervention developed for AAMSM/W through a community collaborative process and is now being tested using a randomized controlled trial (RCT).

Methods: From February 2011- December 2012, we recruited 227 AAMSM/W in the San Francisco Bay Area. A survey administered at baseline assessed: sexual risk behavior with male, female, transgender partners, substance use, homelessness, incarceration, and a number of psychosocial factors. Multivariate analysis was completed looking at risk factors for our primary outcomes, any unprotected anal intercourse with male/transgender partners (UAI) and any unprotected vaginal intercourse with female partners (UVI) in the past 3 months.

Results: We used multivariate logistic regression to identify risk factors for 3-month UAI and UVI. Independent correlates of 3-month UAI were having sex with a woman during the past 3 months, higher number of male sex partners during the past 3 months, low condom use self-efficacy, lifetime history of incarceration, and any STI diagnosis during the past year. Independent correlates of 3-month UVI were higher number of female sex partners during the past 3 months and low self-esteem.

Conclusions: Interventions that provide private, individualized sessions that address the complexities of the lives of AAMSM/W have potential to impact HIV transmission for this population. Interventions must consider unique risk factors for unprotected sex with male versus female partners.

Learning Areas:

Public health or related research
Social and behavioral sciences

Learning Objectives:
Compare factors related to HIV-related risk behavior and partner type among AAMSM/W. Identify strategies for tailoring HIV prevention interventions to be responsive to the differing contexts of risk depending on partner type for this population.

Keyword(s): Community-Based Partnership, HIV Interventions

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am the Principal Investigator of the Bruthas Project Randomized Controlled Trial study, and have been working with the Bruthas Project team to develop and now test the intervention for the past 6 years.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 5006.0: Barriers to HIV prevention