Identifying Effective Interventions for African-American MSM
Creators: name: University Of California Office Of The President
Publisher: name: University of California Office of the President
publisherIdentifier: https://ror.org/00dmfq477
publisherIdentifierScheme: ROR
Year: 2024

description: The proposed research program will be a collaborative effort between the San Francisco AIDS Foundation (SFAF) and the César E. Chávez Institute (CCI) of San Francisco State University to conduct an outcome evaluation of SFAF’s Black Brothers Esteem (BBE), a comprehensive HIV prevention program targeting African American men who have sex with men (MSM) living in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood. We propose to conduct a two-year outcome evaluation that will assess changes over time in BBE participants’ knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors relevant to reducing the risk of HIV transmission, as well as changes among those psychosocial, environmental, and substance-related predictors of HIV risk that the program aims to impact. BBE has a proven track record in reaching and providing sustained HIV support to African American MSM. In its ten-year existence, BBE has evolved into a trusted, reliable, and safe environment in which African American MSM can seek support for HIV risk and a variety of other issues important to their lives and well-being. The proposed evaluation will examine behavioral changes over a four-month period of BBE participation in 100 program participants using a baseline and four-month follow-up design. In addition, we will examine the relationship between different levels, types and intensity of program participation and behavioral changes over time in order to assess possible dose effects. The first two months of the project will be devoted to piloting an evaluation instrument that will assess, for each BBE participant, the following areas: Sexual Behavior; Substance use and abuse; HIV prevention knowledge, attitudes and intentions; Markers of life stability; Social support and sense of connectedness; Self-esteem and positive identity as a Black gay/bisexual man; Community involvement and sense of purpose in life; Holistic (physical, emotional, sexual and spiritual) health and wellbeing; Access and utilization of medical care; and Demographics. The proposed evaluation will answer two important questions: 1) whether BBE participants do indeed change, after four months of program participation, along expected behavioral and psychosocial dimensions, and reduce their risk for HIV transmission as aimed by the program’s mission; and 2) whether observed changes are related to the frequency and type of BBE participation. Given recent data that show that African American MSM are more than twice as likely to be HIV-positive than other MSM, the proposed research project has the potential to provide crucial information about the HIV prevention needs of this hard-hit population. BBE’s expertise, developed over ten years of working with African American MSM, puts it in an ideal position to serve as a comprehensive and culturally appropriate model for other organizations and service providers throughout California and the nation who are interested in improving their capacity to meet the unique HIV prevention needs of their African American MSM clientele. A systematic evaluation study assessing BBE’s effectiveness in fostering positive health behavior change among the target population is the first step in such a dissemination of the BBE model. With solid, evidence-based outcomes from the proposed project, SFAF will be well-positioned to share its expertise and experience to help other service providers address the high rates of HIV among African American MSM.