My Life My Style Evaluation Project
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: Data on HIV cases reported in 33 U.S. states with HIV reporting indicate the burden of HIV/AIDS is most concentrated in the African American population compared to other racial/ethnic groups. Of the 49,704 African American males diagnosed with HIV between 2001 and 2004, 54% of these cases were among men who have sex with men (MSM). In Los Angeles County (LAC), the percentage of HIV/AIDS cases among African American males attributed to male-to-male sex is even greater (75%). In the absence of a successful vaccine, behavioral interventions represent one of the few methods for reducing new HIV infections among African American MSM (AAMSM). Unfortunately, in the third decade of the epidemic, very few of the available HIV-prevention interventions for African American populations have been designed specifically for MSM. In fact, not one of the CDC’s proven HIV-prevention interventions has been specifically tested for its effectiveness in reducing HIV transmission among MSM of color by the CDC. While a number of HIV interventions have been created by and for a variety of AAMSM organizations across the U.S., evaluation data to document the effectiveness of these programs are practically non-existent. Factors that keep minority-run, gay organizations from conducting routine outcome evaluations include a lack of money, high staff turn-over, lack of technical expertise, and cultural differences that make collaborations with academic researchers challenging. Such factors may also prevent these same community-based organizations from evaluating the effectiveness of their programs on a consistent basis. Given a lack of evidence-based HIV interventions and outcome evaluations of existing AAMSM programs, we intend to address this glaring research gap by implementing a “best-practices” model for evaluating program effectiveness. The Overall Goal of the proposed My Life My Style Evaluation Project, therefore, is to use an experimental study design to evaluate successful program outcomes by identifying which elements of the intervention are needed to produce positive outcomes in a real-world setting. Our secondary goal is to offer an academic training opportunity for program staff so that they can have a sense of ownership in doing evaluation work within the community setting. A UCLA graduate student, who also happens to be a member of the target population, will fill the role of trainee on the project. My Life My Style Evaluation Project will test the effectiveness of delivering three sessions of group intervention – called My Life, My Style – designed to reduce high risk sexual behaviors among AAMSM ages 18-29 years. This project also intends to identify what key components of the program intervention are necessary to produce positive behavior changes that the intervention can then be replicated by other programs. The collaborative research partners are In The Meantime Men’s Group, Inc. (ITMT), a black community-based HIV prevention provider, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health’s HIV Epidemiology Program (HEP), and an expert in program evaluation from Claremont Graduate University. The collaborative team will determine if participants of the My Life, My Style program can decrease in frequency of unprotected anal sex with male partners by 20% three months after the intervention. We have identified the following Specific Aims for the 36-month project period: 1) Enroll 200 AAMSM, ages 18-29 years, to test the effectiveness of My Life, My Style to reduce unprotected anal sex with male partners three months after the intervention and compare their success to a control group; 2) Thoroughly evaluate the program to identify which the aspects of the intervention are associated with program success, such as: a) intervention components, processes, and characteristics; b) recruitment and retention strategies; and c) aspects of the organization’s infrastructure that are shown to be necessary to deliver the intervention successfully.