HIV Prevention Within High-Risk Bulgarian and Hungarian Social Networks

April 20, 2015 updated by: Jeffrey Kelly, Medical College of Wisconsin

HIV Prevention Within High-Risk Social Networks

This study will evaluate the effectiveness of peer-led HIV/sexually transmitted disease (STD)risk reduction educational counseling in reducing HIV risk behavior among the social networks of young men who have sex with men and Roma men and women in Bulgaria and Hungary.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

HIV is spreading more rapidly in Eastern Europe than anywhere else in the world. Bulgaria and Hungary are still in the early stages of the crisis. However, without efforts to prevent the spread of HIV and AIDS, both countries are likely to fall victim to the HIV/AIDS growth curve that has already affected the rest of Eastern Europe. Bulgarian and Hungarian young men who have sex with men (YMSM) and Roma men and women are at the greatest risk for HIV infection. In both countries, HIV is spread primarily through sexual transmission. Prevention efforts that are undertaken now could help these countries avoid an explosive HIV/AIDS epidemic. YMSM and Roma men in Bulgaria and Hungary are more likely to trust HIV/AIDS information received from someone they know than from an official statement. Therefore, entire social networks will be recruited for this study and the leader of each network will be responsible for delivering the prevention information to his or her peers. This study will evaluate the effectiveness of peer-led HIV/STD risk reduction educational counseling in reducing HIV risk behavior among the social networks of YMSM and Roma men and women in Bulgaria and Hungary.

This study will recruit 40 YMSM and 40 Roma high-risk social networks. Each network will be randomly assigned to receive either standard HIV/AIDS risk reduction or the intervention. Networks assigned to receive the intervention will be assessed sociometrically to determine the 'social influence' leaders of each group. The leaders will then attend a 9-session program over the course of 3 months that will train them to deliver theory-based risk-reduction messages and peer-counseling to their respective social networks. The messages will focus on promoting safer sex knowledge, attitudes, intentions, perceived norms, and self-efficacy. All participants will be offered STD testing and their HIV-risk behavior will be assessed at Months 3 and 12. Participants assigned to receive the standard HIV/AIDS risk reduction will then receive the network intervention for an additional 12 months.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

320

Phase

  • Phase 2
  • Phase 3

Contacts and Locations

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

Study Locations

  • Bulgaria
      • Sofia, Bulgaria
        • Health and Social Development Foundation
  • Hungary
      • Budapest, Hungary
        • Institute of Sociology, Hungarian Academy of Sciences
  • Russian Federation
      • St. Petersburg, Russian Federation
        • Botkin Hospital for Infectious Diseases

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 and older (Child, Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • At least 50% of social network members complete baseline assessments
  • At least 50% of assessed members of a social network report unprotected vaginal or anal intercourse outside of a mutually monogamous relationship in the 6 months prior to study entry

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Does not meet inclusion criteria

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: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Factorial Assignment
  • Masking: Single

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Reductions in the prevalence and frequency of unprotected vaginal or anal intercourse
Time Frame: Months 3 and 12 post intervention
Months 3 and 12 post intervention

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Lower incidence of sexually transmitted diseases
Time Frame: Months 3 and 12 post intervention
Months 3 and 12 post intervention
Change in AIDS-related scales
Time Frame: Months 3 and 12 post intervention
Months 3 and 12 post intervention

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Medical College of Wisconsin

Collaborators

National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

Investigators

  • Study Director: Yuri A. Amirkhanian, PhD, Medical College of Wisconsin

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

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

February 1, 2003

Primary Completion (Actual)

November 1, 2005

Study Completion (Actual)

November 1, 2005

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

April 3, 2006

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 3, 2006

First Posted (Estimate)

April 5, 2006

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

April 22, 2015

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 20, 2015

Last Verified

April 1, 2015

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • R01MH064410 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)
  • DAHBR 9A-ASPG (National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH-DAHBR))

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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