Serosorting Intervention for HIV Negative MSM

May 27, 2015 updated by: University of Connecticut
Men who have sex with men make up a majority of incident HIV infections, however few effective interventions to prevent HIV transmission among this group exist. African American men who have sex with men (AAMSM) are disproportionately infected with STI/HIV and little is understood about how the role of stigma impacts their linkage and retention to health care during treatment. Effective strategies for reducing HIV related risk taking are urgently needed to prevent further spread of the HIV epidemic. The proposed research will test a behavioral intervention, which can be used during routine public health services, designed to reduce HIV risks posed by sexual partner selection strategies. The proposed research will also identify treatment barriers among MSM who test HIV/STI positive. Effective strategies for reducing social barriers to health care treatment rely on a comprehensive and thorough investigation into social barriers that affect AAMSM to effectively engage in medical care. These areas of research will be focused on for the current trial.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Men who have sex with men continue to make up a majority of incident HIV infections. Despite alarmingly high rates of HIV infection, there are few effective interventions to prevent HIV transmission among these men. This five year study, proposed by a New/Early Stage Investigator, consists of a randomized controlled trial to test a behavioral intervention designed to reduce risks for HIV/AIDS posed by sexual partner selection strategies, specifically serosorting, among at-risk HIV negative men who have sex with men in Atlanta, GA. Serosorting - limiting unprotected sexual partners to those of the same HIV status- has emerged as a risk reduction strategy with little input from public health agencies. It is commonly practiced among men who have sex with men to avoid HIV infection. However, engaging in serosorting is a predictor of HIV transmission rather than a reliable form of prevention. Serosorting is ineffective due to several factors, including: multiple flaws in the ability to be certain of own or partner's HIV statuses, the failure of routine HIV tests to detect acute HIV infection, elevated infectiousness due to acute HIV infection, and increased risk for contracting other STIs that can facilitate HIV transmission. We are therefore proposing to test a brief, single-session, Conflict Theory of Decision Making based intervention for use in public health settings. This project uses a novel theory of informed decision making to guide an intervention designed for use in routine services, i.e., HIV post-test counseling. An intervention to address the needs of men who test HIV negative fits well with current efforts to scale up HIV testing, also referred to as seek, test and treat. The proposed research builds on the strengths of a pilot tested, behavioral intervention for addressing serosorting among men who have sex with men. Following screening, informed consent, baseline assessments, and HIV testing (we predict 70 men will test HIV positive), 600 HIV-negative participants will be randomly assigned to receive one of two intervention arms: (a) a serosorting, partner selection intervention, or (b) a time-match, CDC based, post-HIV test counseling, standard-of-care. Participants will be followed over 12-months and assessments will include measures of serosorting beliefs, decisional balance, knowledge of acute HIV infection, HIV status disclosure, and biological (incident STI) and behavioral outcomes (sexual behaviors). This study will test the hypotheses that a brief, single session, serosorting intervention will result in less risk-related serosorting beliefs, greater knowledge/awareness of HIV transmission risk taking, increased HIV status disclosure, reductions in number of sex partners, unprotected sex acts, and incident STIs among intervention participants more so than the control group participants. Moreover, we will test the hypothesis that the intervention will be cost saving when tested in cost-effectiveness analyses. If shown effective, the intervention model will be ready for immediate dissemination to HIV testing services. In a subset of participants, we will test how stigma affects linkage, engagement and retention in care for participants who test HIV/STI positive.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

600

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

  • United States
    • Georgia
      • Atlanta, Georgia, United States, 30308
        • SHARE Project

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

16 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

Male

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Men who have sex with men
  • Reside in study area (Atlanta, GA)
  • At least 18 years of age
  • Other criteria may apply

Exclusion 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: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Standard of Care
Standard of care
Behavioral: Serosorting Intervention
Single session, behavioral intervention

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Sexually Transmitted Disease
Time Frame: 12 month
12 month

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

University of Connecticut

Collaborators

National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Lisa A Eaton, PhD, University of Connecticut

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

January 1, 2012

Primary Completion (Actual)

April 1, 2015

Study Completion (Actual)

April 1, 2015

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

April 29, 2014

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 30, 2014

First Posted (Estimate)

May 1, 2014

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

May 28, 2015

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 27, 2015

Last Verified

May 1, 2015

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

  • H10-299
  • R01MH094230 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

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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