American Journal of Community Psychology, Jun 21, 2011
Considerable resources have been spent developing and rigorously testing HIV prevention intervent... more Considerable resources have been spent developing and rigorously testing HIV prevention intervention models, but such models do not impact the AIDS pandemic unless they are implemented effectively by community‐based organizations (CBOs) and health departments. The Mpowerment Project (MP) is being implemented by CBOs around the US. It is a multilevel, evidence‐based HIV prevention program for young gay/bisexual men that targets individual, interpersonal, social, and structural issues by using empowerment and community mobilization methods. This paper discusses the development of an intervention to help CBOs implement the MP called the Mpowerment Project Technology Exchange System (MPTES); CBOs’ uptake, utilization and perceptions of the MPTES components; and issues that arose during technical assistance. The seven‐component MPTES was provided to 49 CBOs implementing the MP that were followed longitudinally for up to two years. Except for the widely used program manual, other program materials were used early in implementing the MP and then their use declined. In contrast, once technical assistance was proactively provided, its usage remained constant over time, as did requests for technical assistance. CBOs expressed substantial positive feedback about the MPTES, but felt that it needs more focus on diversity issues, describing real world implementation approaches, and providing guidance on how to adapt the MP to diverse populations.
The growing number of AIDS cases among older Americans (50 years and older) is of increasing conc... more The growing number of AIDS cases among older Americans (50 years and older) is of increasing concern. In the context of primary prevention, findings are reviewed that bear on the modes of HIV transmission (blood transfusion, sexual) among older individuals and knowledge of the magnitude of the AIDS problem represented by these routes of infection. Lastly, a proposed research agenda is focused on questions of primary prevention of HIV transmission.
We are not aware of any validated sexual health communication scales for use with young men who h... more We are not aware of any validated sexual health communication scales for use with young men who have sex with men (YMSM). We used data from an HIV prevention study in Lebanon with 226 YMSM aged 18–29 to assess the psychometric characteristics of our scale, Judgmental Communication with Peers about Sex (JCPS). The construct validity of the JCPS scale was supported by it being negatively correlated with general social support, percentage of alters perceived to be supportive, and the percentage of peers who are perceived to use condoms. The scale was positively correlated with gay-related discrimination, feeling part of the gay community, and gay social integration. These findings reflect a reliable, valid measure to assess judgmental sexual health communication between YMSM.
Background: HIV care engagement is lower among Black sexual-minority men relative to other racial... more Background: HIV care engagement is lower among Black sexual-minority men relative to other racial/ethnic groups of sexual minority men. Being in a primary relationship is generally associated with more successful HIV care engagement across various populations. However, among Black sexual-minority men, the association between primary-relationship status and HIV-related outcomes is inconsistent across the HIV care continuum. Given the ubiquity of mobile technology access and use among racial/ethnic minority communities, leveraging mobile technology for HIV care engagement appears a promising intervention strategy. This paper outlines the protocol of the LetSync study, a pilot randomized-controlled trial of an mHealth app intervention developed using the Framework of Dyadic HIV Care Engagement to improve care-engagement outcomes among Black sexual-minority male couples living with HIV.Methods/Design: Eighty Black sexual-minority men in couples (n= 160) will be enrolled to pilot test th...
JAIDS Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, 2021
Background: Black and Latinx sexual minority youth are disproportionately affected by HIV. The Ho... more Background: Black and Latinx sexual minority youth are disproportionately affected by HIV. The House Ball and gay family communities encompass sexual and ethnic minority youth who form chosen families that promote protective HIV-related health behaviors. We conducted a small-scale trial of the We Are Family intervention, leveraging these existing social dynamics to address HIV. Methods: From September 2018 to September 2019, we enrolled N = 118 for baseline and 6-month follow-up assessments. Eligible participants were 18 years or older, San Francisco Bay Area residents, members of a house or gay family or ball attendees in the past year, smartphone users, and sexually active. The intervention included one 2-hour in-person group session, community-level events, a mobile health app, and a dedicated service provider. Results: Ninety-seven percent of our participants were people of color, 94% were retained through follow-up. 73% attended at least 1 group session, 100% used the mobile health app, and 56% attended a community-level event. Modest changes were observed baseline to follow-up: among all participants, any condomless anal intercourse past 3 months (74.6%–66.7%, P = 0.064); among HIV-negative participants (N = 82) HIV testing past 6 months (80.7%–87.2%, P = 0.166); among HIV-positive participants (N = 34) receiving HIV primary care past 6 months (64.5%–78.8%, P = 0.139), and adherent to ART past 30 days (22.6%–28.1%, P = 0.712). 86% would be willing to refer a friend to the app, and 65% found the app to be personally relevant. Conclusions: We Are Family reaches and retains its target population, is feasible, acceptable, and shows promise for improving HIV-related health behavior.
IntroductionHIV care engagement is lower among black sexual-minority men relative to other racial... more IntroductionHIV care engagement is lower among black sexual-minority men relative to other racial/ethnic groups of sexual-minority men. Being in a primary relationship is generally associated with more successful HIV care engagement across various populations. However, among black sexual-minority men, the association between primary relationship status and HIV-related outcomes is inconsistent across the HIV care continuum. Given the ubiquity of mobile technology access and use among racial/ethnic minority communities, leveraging mobile technology for HIV care engagement appears a promising intervention strategy. This paper outlines the protocol of the LetSync study, a pilot randomised controlled trial of a mobile health app intervention developed using the Framework of Dyadic HIV Care Engagement to improve care-engagement outcomes among black sexual-minority male couples living with HIV.Methods and analysisEighty black sexual-minority men in couples (n=160) will be enrolled to pilot...
American Journal of Community Psychology, Jun 21, 2011
Considerable resources have been spent developing and rigorously testing HIV prevention intervent... more Considerable resources have been spent developing and rigorously testing HIV prevention intervention models, but such models do not impact the AIDS pandemic unless they are implemented effectively by community‐based organizations (CBOs) and health departments. The Mpowerment Project (MP) is being implemented by CBOs around the US. It is a multilevel, evidence‐based HIV prevention program for young gay/bisexual men that targets individual, interpersonal, social, and structural issues by using empowerment and community mobilization methods. This paper discusses the development of an intervention to help CBOs implement the MP called the Mpowerment Project Technology Exchange System (MPTES); CBOs’ uptake, utilization and perceptions of the MPTES components; and issues that arose during technical assistance. The seven‐component MPTES was provided to 49 CBOs implementing the MP that were followed longitudinally for up to two years. Except for the widely used program manual, other program materials were used early in implementing the MP and then their use declined. In contrast, once technical assistance was proactively provided, its usage remained constant over time, as did requests for technical assistance. CBOs expressed substantial positive feedback about the MPTES, but felt that it needs more focus on diversity issues, describing real world implementation approaches, and providing guidance on how to adapt the MP to diverse populations.
The growing number of AIDS cases among older Americans (50 years and older) is of increasing conc... more The growing number of AIDS cases among older Americans (50 years and older) is of increasing concern. In the context of primary prevention, findings are reviewed that bear on the modes of HIV transmission (blood transfusion, sexual) among older individuals and knowledge of the magnitude of the AIDS problem represented by these routes of infection. Lastly, a proposed research agenda is focused on questions of primary prevention of HIV transmission.
We are not aware of any validated sexual health communication scales for use with young men who h... more We are not aware of any validated sexual health communication scales for use with young men who have sex with men (YMSM). We used data from an HIV prevention study in Lebanon with 226 YMSM aged 18–29 to assess the psychometric characteristics of our scale, Judgmental Communication with Peers about Sex (JCPS). The construct validity of the JCPS scale was supported by it being negatively correlated with general social support, percentage of alters perceived to be supportive, and the percentage of peers who are perceived to use condoms. The scale was positively correlated with gay-related discrimination, feeling part of the gay community, and gay social integration. These findings reflect a reliable, valid measure to assess judgmental sexual health communication between YMSM.
Background: HIV care engagement is lower among Black sexual-minority men relative to other racial... more Background: HIV care engagement is lower among Black sexual-minority men relative to other racial/ethnic groups of sexual minority men. Being in a primary relationship is generally associated with more successful HIV care engagement across various populations. However, among Black sexual-minority men, the association between primary-relationship status and HIV-related outcomes is inconsistent across the HIV care continuum. Given the ubiquity of mobile technology access and use among racial/ethnic minority communities, leveraging mobile technology for HIV care engagement appears a promising intervention strategy. This paper outlines the protocol of the LetSync study, a pilot randomized-controlled trial of an mHealth app intervention developed using the Framework of Dyadic HIV Care Engagement to improve care-engagement outcomes among Black sexual-minority male couples living with HIV.Methods/Design: Eighty Black sexual-minority men in couples (n= 160) will be enrolled to pilot test th...
JAIDS Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, 2021
Background: Black and Latinx sexual minority youth are disproportionately affected by HIV. The Ho... more Background: Black and Latinx sexual minority youth are disproportionately affected by HIV. The House Ball and gay family communities encompass sexual and ethnic minority youth who form chosen families that promote protective HIV-related health behaviors. We conducted a small-scale trial of the We Are Family intervention, leveraging these existing social dynamics to address HIV. Methods: From September 2018 to September 2019, we enrolled N = 118 for baseline and 6-month follow-up assessments. Eligible participants were 18 years or older, San Francisco Bay Area residents, members of a house or gay family or ball attendees in the past year, smartphone users, and sexually active. The intervention included one 2-hour in-person group session, community-level events, a mobile health app, and a dedicated service provider. Results: Ninety-seven percent of our participants were people of color, 94% were retained through follow-up. 73% attended at least 1 group session, 100% used the mobile health app, and 56% attended a community-level event. Modest changes were observed baseline to follow-up: among all participants, any condomless anal intercourse past 3 months (74.6%–66.7%, P = 0.064); among HIV-negative participants (N = 82) HIV testing past 6 months (80.7%–87.2%, P = 0.166); among HIV-positive participants (N = 34) receiving HIV primary care past 6 months (64.5%–78.8%, P = 0.139), and adherent to ART past 30 days (22.6%–28.1%, P = 0.712). 86% would be willing to refer a friend to the app, and 65% found the app to be personally relevant. Conclusions: We Are Family reaches and retains its target population, is feasible, acceptable, and shows promise for improving HIV-related health behavior.
IntroductionHIV care engagement is lower among black sexual-minority men relative to other racial... more IntroductionHIV care engagement is lower among black sexual-minority men relative to other racial/ethnic groups of sexual-minority men. Being in a primary relationship is generally associated with more successful HIV care engagement across various populations. However, among black sexual-minority men, the association between primary relationship status and HIV-related outcomes is inconsistent across the HIV care continuum. Given the ubiquity of mobile technology access and use among racial/ethnic minority communities, leveraging mobile technology for HIV care engagement appears a promising intervention strategy. This paper outlines the protocol of the LetSync study, a pilot randomised controlled trial of a mobile health app intervention developed using the Framework of Dyadic HIV Care Engagement to improve care-engagement outcomes among black sexual-minority male couples living with HIV.Methods and analysisEighty black sexual-minority men in couples (n=160) will be enrolled to pilot...
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Papers by Susan Kegeles