Intervention to Assist MSM Disclose HIV Status to Casual Sex Partners

Summary

Men who have sex with men (MSM) remain disproportionately represented in the national HIV/AIDS statistics. Little progress has been made in understanding the nuances of MSM sexual behavior or communication that may be perpetuating the spread of HIV. Non-disclosure of an HIV-positive status may be a key factor responsible for male-male HIV transmission. There are no known intervention programs whose primary focus is to help MSM develop requisite skills to disclose their status to casual sexual partners. The development of such interventions is essential because of the numerous repercussions for not disclosing when one is HIV-positive such as legal prosecution and the transmission of HIV. In a previous intervention development study (R21MH067494) the research team created and tested a 4 session intervention found to be promising for increasing disclosure to casual sexual partners. The purpose of the proposed research is to further refine and enhance our HIV disclosure intervention (DI) designed to increase disclosure to casual sexual partners and reduce sexual risk taking behaviors among HIV-positive MSM; assess the relative effectiveness of a disclosure intervention to an attention control case management group (ACCM) for HIV-positive MSM; examine the effects of the intervention over time; explore differential treatment responses to the disclosure intervention and ACCM on the basis of ethnicity, age, and education level as well as examine the mediating effect of baseline frequency of sexual activity, severity of substance abuse at baseline, and stigmatized fear on the relationship between intervention type and the outcome. Finally, the investigators will test how treatment engagement, retention and expectations predict subsequent disclosure and risky sexual outcomes.

Conditions

• HIV

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Disclosure Intervention

The experimental condition is a 4-session + 3 month booster intervention. Session 1 includes an introduction to the project, goal setting, assessment of disclosure strategies or tactics utilized, and disclosure triggers. Session 2 focuses on the costs and benefits of disclosing to casual sexual partners and previous best and worst disclosure experiences. Session 3 begins with the delivery of the encouraging messages and review of the disclosure strategies already employed. Session 4 is a continuation of session 3 activities with an additional focus on expanding the participant's repertoire of strategies; discussion of methods of sexual negotiation, and rehearsal. The booster session includes a discussion of what strategies have been used in the preceding months, which strategies worked and how can these be enhanced, which strategies did not work with opportunities for troubleshooting, and an examination of rewards experienced or costs encountered.

BEHAVIORAL

Attention Control Case Management

Comprehensive Risk Counseling and Services (CRCS) will be used to guide the case management activities. CRCS combines traditional case management and HIV risk-reduction in an individualized, client-centered program which focuses on the reduction of risk behavior and addresses a client's psychosocial and medical needs. CRCS focuses on seven core elements: recruitment and engagement; screening, enrolling, and assessing; prevention planning; risk reduction counseling; referrals and service coordination; monitoring; and discharge and maintenance.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

  collaborator NIH

• University of South Florida

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Julianne M Serovich, PhD · University of South Florida

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

MALE

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2009-08-31

Primary Completion

2014-12-31

Completion

2014-12-31

Countries

• United States

Study Locations