This National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Project Grant award under the Mental Health Research Grants program (CFDA 93.242) in the amount of $1,272,602 will fund a cluster-randomized efficacy trial to integrate the "Undetectable = Untransmittable" (U=U) message into HIV counseling in South Africa. The primary objective is to assess the impact of a U=U mobile app intervention on viral suppression rates among people living with HIV. The study, titled "Integrating U=U into...
This Project Grant award of $186,095 from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) under the Mental Health Research Grants program (CFDA 93.242) supports research to assess the impact of sexual network clustering on the effectiveness of HIV test-and-treat interventions in sub-Saharan Africa. The primary objectives are to: 1) characterize the sexual network position and clustering of individuals engaged in HIV test-and-treat; 2) evaluate the impact of network-driven strategies for HIV...
This federal Project Grant award, funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) under the Mental Health Research Grants program (CFDA 93.242), provides $186,840 to the University of Chicago to develop, pilot, and evaluate a multilevel intervention that combines a refined media campaign and peer-based strategy, informed by social network analysis. The project aims to promote the use of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) among young Latino sexual minority men, a population...
This federal Project Grant award for $1,364,940 was provided by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) under the Mental Health Research Grants program (CFDA 93.242). The award is focused on "Combating HIV Stigma in Healthcare Settings: A Standardized Patient Approach" and will be conducted by the Regents of the University of Minnesota. The key objectives of this 5-year research project are to: 1) Conduct baseline standardized patient visits to healthcare settings to measure...
This federal Project Grant award from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) under the Mental Health Research Grants program (CFDA 93.242) provides $221,635 to the University of Chicago to develop and pilot implementation strategies for improving engagement and retention in HIV care among Black sexual minority men (SMM). The project aims to utilize agent-based modeling, qualitative interviews, and stakeholder feedback to characterize barriers to HIV care engagement and identify effective...
This federal Project Grant award of $1,927,030 from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) under the Mental Health Research Grants program (CFDA 93.242) will support research to implement evidence-based treatments for depression and treatment adherence in persons with HIV in South Africa. The primary aims are to compare a core set and enhanced set of implementation strategies to increase the reach of cognitive behavioral therapy for adherence and depression (CBT-AD) to patients with...
This federal Project Grant award from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), under CFDA Program 93.242 - Mental Health Research Grants, provides $845,304 to fund formative work for developing an intervention to support combined HIV/syphilis self-testing and linkage to prevention and treatment services for transgender women in South Africa. The key products and services to be delivered through this award include conducting in-depth interviews with 15 transgender women and 15 healthcare...
The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) awarded a 5-year, $197,035 Project Grant (CFDA 93.242 - Mental Health Research Grants) to The General Hospital Corporation (doing business as Massachusetts General Hospital) to design and evaluate a community-based intervention aimed at improving HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) use and health engagement among men who frequent shebeens (local bars) in rural South Africa. The project will: Explore the lived experiences, perceptions, and...
This federal Project Grant award from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) under the Mental Health Research Grants program (CFDA 93.242) provides $198,531 to Emory University to develop and pilot test an integrated intervention that addresses mental health and HIV medication adherence among men who have sex with men (MSM) in South Africa. The proposed "WECARE" intervention will be based on principles of problem-solving therapy, minority stress theory, and a status-neutral...
This federal Project Grant award in the amount of $1,188,296 was provided by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) under the Mental Health Research Grants program (CFDA 93.242). The award will support the development and evaluation of a multicomponent behavioral intervention delivered by lay health workers to address HIV viral suppression and postpartum weight retention among postpartum women living with HIV in South Africa. The key objectives of the project are to: 1) refine the...
This Project Grant award from the National Institute of Mental Health (CFDA 93.242 Mental Health Research Grants) provides $1,935,300 to the University of Illinois to conduct a site-randomized trial of a novel social network recruitment intervention to increase HIV testing among men, locate undiagnosed HIV cases, and reduce HIV-related stigma in South Africa.
The intervention, known as E-SNRHT, aims to expand traditional risk-based HIV testing recruitment by asking newly diagnosed HIV-positive "seeds" to recruit their broader social networks, including those who may have avoided testing due to stigma. Two sub-awards are included - one to the Human Sciences Research Council in South Africa to complete all fieldwork, and another to NYU Grossman School of Medicine to provide expertise in qualitative research and implementation evaluation. The project will run from July 2024 to April 2029 and assess the intervention's impact on testing uptake, case identification, stigma reduction, and treatment cascade outcomes.