POSSE Project: A Community-Level Intervention for Black YMSM

June 28, 2023 updated by: Sybil Hosek, Cook County Health
Black young men who have sex with men (BYMSM) are at high risk for contracting and transmitting HIV, and represent a priority population for developing effective interventions. Within the House Ball community (HBC), a clandestine subculture of the Black gay community, HIV is highly stigmatized. This stigma, coupled with high HIV prevalence rates and elevated levels of undiagnosed/untreated HIV infection, places BYMSM in HBCs at incredible risk for HIV infection. Community-level interventions that target social norms, behavior, and stigma in the HBC are sorely needed in order to make a broader impact among BYMSM. Building on prior work in the community, this study proposes to launch an innovative Effectiveness-Implementation Hybrid Type 2 trial to examine the effectiveness and implementation of a community-level HIV prevention intervention (called POSSE) based on popular opinion leader (POL) models across two cities with similar HBCs, Chicago and Philadelphia. The proposed study has two specific aims: 1) To determine the effectiveness of a POL intervention, POSSE, to decrease sexual risk behavior (UAI), STIs and HIV stigma among BYMSM in the HBC; and 2) To evaluate the processes, strategies, barriers and facilitators for the implementation of POSSE delivered across two distinct metropolitan areas with high HIV prevalence among BYMSM and similar House Ball Communities. To examine these aims, the investigators will first use social network strategies to identify, screen, and recruit POLs (n=75) from the Philadelphia HBC. The investigators will then gather baseline behavioral and biological (HIV/STI testing) data in both Chicago and Philadelphia (n=100 BYMSM per city) and train the Philadelphia POLs to implement the POSSE intervention. The investigators will conduct an implementation-focused process evaluation to assess fidelity to the POSSE intervention; number, content, spread, and acceptability of risk reduction messages; age appropriateness of the messages; acceptability of the overall intervention; and barriers/facilitators to implementation. Next, the investigators will complete follow-up assessments every 6 months post- intervention in both cities (n=100 BYMSM per city at each assessment point). The investigators will also assess behavior change in those delivering the intervention (POLs) at each assessment point. The investigators will conduct implementation-focused qualitative interviews with POLs (n=15) and community participants (n=30) from Philadelphia. Last, the investigators will implement POSSE in Chicago by repeating the steps outlined above, continuing assessments in both cities, and conducting qualitative interviews in Chicago.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

1037

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Contact Backup

Study Locations

    • Illinois
      • Chicago, Illinois, United States
    • Pennsylvania
      • Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

15 years to 25 years (Child, Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • self-identified as Black,
  • between the ages of 15 - 24 (inclusive), and
  • in attendance at a HBC event at the time of the assessment.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • intoxicated or otherwise unable to consent at time of enrollment

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Prevention
  • Allocation: Non-Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: POSSE Intervention
Popular-opinion leader
Other: Control
Delayed intervention
Popular-opinion leader

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
HIV incidence
Time Frame: 24 months
24 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
STI incidence
Time Frame: 24 months
24 months

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

June 1, 2016

Primary Completion (Actual)

March 1, 2020

Study Completion (Actual)

April 1, 2020

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

March 7, 2017

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 22, 2017

First Posted (Actual)

June 26, 2017

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

June 29, 2023

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 28, 2023

Last Verified

June 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

  • R01MH104106 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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