Selective Exposure in HIV Prevention

Summary

Unfortunately, people most at risk for HIV are the least likely to enroll and remain in prevention programs. In our past work, we have learned how to increase enrollment in such programs among this group. We have identified and addressed previously ignored gender-specific and client self-validation issues that conventional interventions often leave not only uncontrolled, but often biased against participation. The present work will extend these methods from enrollment to retention.

We intend to recruit a sample of 656 at-risk participants through our collaboration with the Duval County, FL Health Department for our randomized, double-blind trial. Our study will investigate if a meta-intervention video designed for empowering participants as agents of their own change can increase the number of attended sessions relative to a control condition without such a video. This trial will also determine if a meta-intervention video addressing various emotional/social and instrumental benefits of an HIV-prevention-counseling intervention can also increase the number of attended sessions. These two factors will be crossed, and their effects on retention will be estimated for different genders and ethnicities. Effects on clients' attention to the return sessions as reported by the counselor will also be explored among participants who return.

We will also conduct mediator analyses for investigating if the meta-intervention has mediating influences on corresponding expectations about the return counseling session. As the inclusion of meta-cognitive measures can alter the efficacy of the intervention, half of the sample will receive measures immediately (0-10 minutes) after exposure to the meta-intervention, before attendance to the next session is registered. The other half will not complete these measures.

Conditions

• HIV Infections

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Maximal Control

30 min video with stories of people with HIV. Content describes general health and emotional benefits of counseling.

BEHAVIORAL

Instrumental and Empowering

Mix of Instrumental and empowering messages with stories of people living with HIV

BEHAVIORAL

Minimal Control

Control messages to increase awareness of HIV risk

BEHAVIORAL

Instrumental

Instrumental messages with stories of people living with HIV

BEHAVIORAL

Empowering

Empowering messages with stories of people living with HIV

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Duval County Health Department

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Dolores Albarracin, PhD · University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

DOUBLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

35 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2010-05-31

Primary Completion

2017-04-30

Completion

2017-04-30

Countries

• United States

Study Locations