This Project Grant award of $197,035 from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) under the Mental Health Research Grants program (CFDA 93.242) will fund a 5-year study to design and evaluate a community-based intervention to engage men who use alcohol and substances in HIV prevention services in rural South Africa. The primary objectives are to: 1) explore perceptions and preferences for HIV prevention services among men who frequent local bars (shebeens), 2) develop an intervention...
This is a five-year K23 career development grant awarded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) under the Mental Health Research Grants program (CFDA 93.242) in the amount of $201,006. The goal of the project is to develop and pilot test a "Healthy Welcome" intervention to support migrant men in South Africa in starting and adhering to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to prevent HIV. The grant recipient, Brigham & Women's Hospital (a subsidiary of the larger Partners...
This $196,881 Project Grant was awarded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of the Director under the Trans-NIH Research Support program (CFDA 93.310) to adapt and pilot test an intervention to reduce alcohol use and improve HIV care outcomes among men living with HIV who have serodiscordant pregnant partners in Uganda. The overarching goal is to adapt the KISOBOKA intervention, which utilizes motivational interviewing and behavioral economics techniques, for use with this target...
The University of South Florida (USF) received a $389,527 Project Grant award from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) under the Mental Health Research Grants program (CFDA 93.242) to conduct a study examining strategies and contextual factors that optimize the delivery of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV prevention in Kenya. The key products and services to be delivered through this two-year project include: Identifying implementation strategies and contextual factors that...
This $715,041 Project Grant award from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) under the Mental Health Research Grants program (CFDA 93.242) will support research to understand real-world choices, preferences, and outcomes related to the roll-out of oral and long-acting injectable PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) among women in Malawi. The study, titled "Better Info on Women's PrEP Choices and Outcomes in Malawi", has three specific aims: 1) Evaluate longitudinal patterns of oral...
This Project Grant award of $364,832 from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) under the Mental Health Research Grants program (CFDA 93.242) will support a mentored career development project entitled "Using Implementation Science to Enhance HIV Prevention for Young Men Who Have Sex with Men." The project aims to deliver and evaluate an enhanced care intervention called "HIV Prevention Plus Care (HP+ Care)" at two clinics, which will include motivational...
The National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR), under the Nursing Research Federal Grant Program (CFDA 93.361), awarded a $1,606,442 Project Grant to Duke University to conduct a cluster randomized controlled trial of the "Using PREP, Doing It For Ourselves (UPDOS) Protective Styles" intervention. This e-health intervention aims to improve PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) uptake among Black cisgender women in the southern United States, who have been disproportionately affected by...
This $244,814 Project Grant award from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (CFDA 93.865 - Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research) will fund a mixed-methods research study to investigate the social and behavioral drivers of HIV risk among South African adolescent girls and young women (SA-AGYW). The primary objectives are to: 1) conduct secondary analyses of baseline data from an existing HIV prevention intervention to examine the roles of mental health...
This Project Grant award of $606,924, provided by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) under the Drug Use and Addiction Research Programs (CFDA 93.279), supports a 2-year research study entitled "CHAMPION - Combining HIV and Stimulant Prevention and Treatment Interventions Optimized for HIV-Negative MSM." The study aims to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of a mobile health intervention package that combines a PrEP adherence app with virtual...
This federal Project Grant award of $1,365,212 from the National Institute of Mental Health (CFDA 93.242 - Mental Health Research Grants) aims to optimize and test a peer-led dynamic choice HIV prevention intervention to increase coverage of biomedical prevention products among women at elevated HIV risk in southwestern Uganda. The project will refine the existing Search Dynamic Choice HIV Prevention (DCP) intervention to further engage women working in venues where transactional sex is...
MALE ACCESS TO SEXUAL HEALTH SERVICES AND PREP - PROJECT SUMMARY GLOBAL HIV PREVENTION EFFORTS HAVE CONVENTIONALLY FOCUSED ON SUPPORTING WOMEN AND KEY POPULATIONS THROUGH TREATMENT AS PREVENTION RESULTING IN VIRAL SUPPRESSION (UNDETECTABLE = UNTRANSMITTABLE, U=U). THIS PRESENTS THE OPPORTUNITY TO DEVELOP INTERVENTIONS THAT SUPPORT HIV PREVENTION IN HETEROSEXUAL MEN, AGED 15-49 YEARS. SINCE THERE ARE NO INTERVENTIONS THAT ADDRESS PREP UPTAKE AMONG HIV SERONEGATIVE HETEROSEXUAL MEN, THE SCIENTIFIC GOAL OF THIS K43 IS TO DEVELOP AND PROTOTYPE AN EVIDENCE-BASED INTERVENTION TO CURB HIV ACQUISITION IN SOUTH AFRICAN MEN AT HIGH RISK OF HIV ACQUISITION. BEHAVIORAL ECONOMICS (BE) THEORY POSITS THAT CONTEXTUAL AND INDIVIDUAL FACTORS INFLUENCE HEALTH BEHAVIOR. BE WILL BE USED TO UNDERSTAND THESE FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH PRE- EXPOSURE PROPHYLAXIS (PREP) UPTAKE IN SOUTH AFRICAN MEN. CANDIDATE: I AM A SOUTH AFRICAN BEHAVIORAL SCIENTIST WITH A BACKGROUND IN HIV RESEARCH IN HIV ENDEMIC COMMUNITIES IN SOUTH AFRICA I AM COMMITTED TO IMPROVE HEALTH SEEKING IN THIS POPULATION. THIS K43 WILL SUPPORT MY TRAINING, MENTORSHIP, AND RESEARCH TOWARDS BECOMING AN INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATOR. MENTORING: I HAVE ASSEMBLED A MULTI-DISCIPLINARY TEAM WITH GLOBALLY RECOGNIZED EXPERTISE IN THEIR FIELDS, COMMITTED TO HIV RESEARCH IN SOUTH AFRICA. MY PRIMARY MENTORS ARE DR. ALISON BUTTENHEIM (U.S. BASED, BEHAVIORAL ECONOMICS INTERVENTION DESIGN, EVIDENCE-BASED HIV CARE DELIVERY, MIXED METHODS RESEARCH), DR. LINDA-GAIL BEKKER (S.A.-BASED, CLINICAL TRIALS, PREP, RESEARCH IN KEY POPULATIONS). MY CO- MENTORSHIP TEAM INCLUDES: DR. JOSEPH DANIELS (U.S.-BASED, QUALITATIVE RESEARCH, HIV PREVENTION AND TREATMENT), DR. ANDREW MEDINA-MARINO (S.A.-BASED, EPIDEMIOLOGY, MEN'S HEALTH, IMPLEMENTATION SCIENCE). TRAINING: THE K43 WILL SUPPORT MENTORING AND RIGOROUS TRAINING TO SUPPORT ME TO DEVELOP EXPERTISE IN 1) BEHAVIORAL ECONOMICS INTERVENTION DESIGN, 2) COHORT DESIGN AND MANAGING CLINICAL TRIALS, 3) MIXED METHODS RESEARCH DESIGN AND ANALYSIS. THESE AIMS WILL BE SUPPORTED BY MENTORS WHO ARE GLOBAL LEADERS IN HIV PREVENTION IN LIMITED RESOURCE COMMUNITIES. RESEARCH: HIV PREVALENCE PEAKS IN SOUTH AFRICAN MALES (45-49 YEARS) LATER THAN THEIR FEMALE (35- 39 YEARS) COUNTERPARTS AND MALES TEND TO CHOOSE YOUNGER FEMALE SEXUAL PARTNERS. REDUCING HIV ACQUISITION AMONG MEN LIVING IN LMICS IS CENTRAL TO BREAKING THIS CYCLE OF TRANSMISSION. THE SPECIFIC RESEARCH AIMS OF THIS AWARD ARE TO: 1) INVESTIGATE THE INFLUENCE OF CONTEXTUAL FACTORS ON PREP UPTAKE, 2) DESCRIBE FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH ATTRITION AND SUSTAINED PREP USE 3) TO USE BE TO DEVELOP AND PROTOTYPE AN INTERVENTION TO SUPPORT PREP UPTAKE AMONG MEN. THIS RESEARCH IS NESTED IN THE EXISTING MOBILE CLINIC SERVICES OPERATING IN THE KLIPFONTEIN DISTRICT IN CAPE TOWN, WHICH WAS RECENTLY AWARDED A PREP IMPLEMENTATION GRANT (BILL AND MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION, PI BEKKER) TO ASSESS COMMUNITY-BASED PREP UPTAKE. THIS STUDY WILL ADVANCE NIH SCIENCE ON HIV PREVENTION IN MEN IN HIGH HIV DISEASE BURDEN COMMUNITIES. THE EVIDENCE WILL BE USED TO DESIGN A BE INFORMED INTERVENTION FOR A LARGER CLINICAL TRIAL INVESTIGATING THE IMPACT ON REDUCING HIV ACQUISITION AND TRANSMISSION IN MEN.