MEN Count: Pilot Evaluation of a Structural and Behavioral HIV Risk Reduction Program for Black Men

MEN (Making Employment Needs) Count, is one of the first community-based HIV interventions to address the social-structural context of unemployment and unstable housing for Black heterosexual men’s behavioral risks for HIV. Participants receive three individual sessions with a peer case manager. The sessions include discussion on healthy relationships with women, interpersonal violence reduction in heterosexual relationships, and HIV risk reduction counseling, integrated with employment and housing-supported case management, over a period of 60-90 days. 

To date, two small pilot studies of MEN Count have been conducted with Black heterosexual men in Boston, MA (N = 50) and Washington, DC (N = 10). Eligible participants were at least 18, unstably housed and/or unemployed and reported unprotected sex with 2 or more sex partners, in the last 6 months.

Pilot study results document the utility of MEN Count with regard to HIV risk reduction for unstably housed and/or unemployed Black heterosexual men. Pilot studies reached men with histories of incarceration (68% in Boston; 90% in DC) and in Boston, high STI rates (14% incidence of chlamydia and gonorrhea). The larger Boston study documented good program retention rates (86%) and significant reductions in unstable housing and employment, and increased condom use among MEN Count participants at 2 month follow-up (p<.05).   

MEN Count is promising, as it appears to have efficacy in increasing condom use and reducing unstable housing and unemployment for program participants. The intervention is currently being evaluated via a rigorous two-armed RCT with 504 Black heterosexual men in Washington, DC.