Prevention of HIV Infection in High-Risk Social Networks of African American Men Who Have Sex With Men (MSM) (C3)

February 13, 2018 updated by: Medical College of Wisconsin

Prevention of HIV Infection in High-Risk Social Networks of African American MSM

During the formative research phase, investigators will undertake formative studies to locate, understand, and characterize high-risk social networks of African American MSM in the community; gain community participation, involvement, and input; and undertake interviews with key informants and community members to gain information needed to pilot test study recruitment procedures, measures, and intervention content.

During a 4-year main outcome trial phase, the investigators will enroll 24 separate sociocentric ("bounded") social networks composed predominantly of Black MSM. Each sociocentric network will consist of the ring of friends surrounding an initial high-risk index as well as all friends surrounding persons in this second ring and then friends surrounding a successive third snowball ring of enrollees. Each 3-ring sociocentric network is expected to consist of approximately 40 unique members (n=24 networks, each with 40 members = approximately 960 individual participants).

All participants will be assessed at baseline to measure sexual practices, substance use, and other risk characteristics over the past 3 months; asked to provide biological specimens to be tested for HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs); and counseled in HIV/STD risk reduction. STDs will be treated and those with HIV will be referred for treatment.

The investigators will identify the individuals in intervention condition networks with the greatest number of reciprocal interconnections and the most favorable sociometric standing in the network. These individuals--expected to constitute approximately 20% of the sociocentric network and designated as network leaders--will be recruited to attend a 9-session program that provides training and guidance in how to deliver on-going, theoretically-based, and culturally tailored risk reduction advice and counseling to other members within the same network.

Six and 18 months following the intervention, all participants will be reassessed on risk behavior and STD/HIV laboratory measures as well as measures of intervention exposure, with positive STD and HIV cases respectively treated or referred to care at each assessment point. Outcome analyses will test whether there is greater reduction in high-risk sexual practices, substance use associated with risky sex, and HIV/STD incidence within social networks in the intervention condition. The primary trial endpoints are reductions in prevalence and frequency of unprotected anal intercourse with nonexclusive partners, increased condom use, and lower incidence on a composite biological measure of new HIV/STD disease during the followup period.

Study Overview

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

856

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 Locations

    • Ohio
      • Cleveland, Ohio, United States, 44113
        • AIDS TaskForce of Greater Cleveland
    • Wisconsin
      • Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, 53202
        • Medical College Of Wisconsin

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

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

Male

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • are age 18 or older;
  • except for the initial index, were named as part of a friendship circle of an already-enrolled participant;
  • provide written informed consent and do not exhibit intoxication, drug use,or psychiatric impairment that leads the research staff member to question capacity to provide informed consent;
  • can complete study measures and participate in study activities in English;
  • reside in or near the study city and do not have definite plans to leave the area in the next 12 months.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • are age 17 or younger;
  • exhibit intoxication, drug use, or psychiatric impairment such that they are unable to provide written informed consent;
  • cannot complete study measures or adequately comprehend study activities conducted in English; or
  • live in a location distant from the study city.

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: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Social Network Intervention
Approximately 20% of people in this condition will be trained to have discussions endorsing less risky behaviors with their social network members.
Approximately 20% of people are trained to have discussions endorsing less risky behaviors with members of their social network.
Active Comparator: Counsel, Test, and Treat
People in this arm will only receive standard-of-care counseling, testing, and treatment for HIV and STDs.
People receive standard-of-care HIV/STD counseling, testing, and treatment

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Reduction of unprotected anal intercourse with nonexclusive partners
Time Frame: 24 months
We will compare the prevalence and frequency of unprotected anal intercourse with nonexclusive partners pre- and post-intervention.
24 months
Condom use
Time Frame: 24 months
We will measure rates of condom pre- and post-intervention
24 months
HIV/STD incidence rates
Time Frame: 24 months
We will compare HIV/STD incidence rates pre- and post-intervention
24 months

Collaborators and Investigators

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

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

August 1, 2011

Primary Completion (Actual)

July 1, 2016

Study Completion (Actual)

December 1, 2017

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

April 2, 2013

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 4, 2013

First Posted (Estimate)

April 5, 2013

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

February 15, 2018

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 13, 2018

Last Verified

February 1, 2018

More Information

Terms related to this study

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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