School of Nursing, Columbia University, New York, NY, United States.
Department of Statistics, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, NJ, United States.
JMIR Res Protoc. 2024 May 6;13:e52853. doi: 10.2196/52853.
BACKGROUND: The World Health Organization reported that 80% of new HIV diagnoses in Europe in 2014 occurred in Central and Eastern Europe. Romania has a particularly high HIV incidence, AIDS prevalence, and number of related deaths. HIV incidence in Romania is largely attributed to sexual contact among gay and bisexual men. However, homophobic stigma in Romania serves as a risk factor for HIV infection for gay and bisexual men. The Comunică intervention aims to provide a much-needed HIV risk reduction strategy, and it entails the delivery of motivational interviewing and cognitive behavioral therapy skills across 8 live text-based counseling sessions on a mobile platform to gay and bisexual men at risk of HIV. The intervention is based on the information-motivation-behavior and minority stress models. There is preliminary evidence suggesting that Comunică holds promise for reducing gay and bisexual men's co-occurring sexual (eg, HIV transmission risk behavior), behavioral (eg, heavy alcohol use), and mental (eg, depression) health risks in Romania. OBJECTIVE: This paper describes the protocol for a randomized controlled trial designed to test the efficacy of Comunică in a national trial. METHODS: To test Comunică's efficacy, 305 gay and bisexual men were randomized to receive Comunică or a content-matched education attention control condition. The control condition consisted of 8 time-matched educational modules that present information regarding gay and bisexual men's identity development, information about HIV transmission and prevention, the importance of HIV and sexually transmitted infection testing and treatment, heavy alcohol use and its associations with HIV transmission risk behavior, sexual health communication, finding social support, and creating sexual health goals. Participants undergo rapid HIV and syphilis testing and 3-site chlamydia and gonorrhea testing at baseline and the 12-month follow-up. Outcomes are measured before the intervention (baseline) and at the 4-, 8-, and 12-month follow-ups. RESULTS: The study was funded in September 2018, and data collection began in May 2019. The last participant follow-up was in January 2024. Currently, the data analyst is cleaning data sets in preparation for data analyses, which are scheduled to begin in April 2024. Data analysis meetings are scheduled regularly to establish timelines and examine the results as analyses are gradually being conducted. Upon completion, a list of manuscripts will be reviewed and prioritized, and the team will begin preparing them for publication. CONCLUSIONS: This study is the first to test the efficacy of an intervention with the potential to simultaneously support the sexual, behavioral, and mental health of gay and bisexual men in Central and Eastern Europe using motivational interviewing support and sensitivity to the high-stigma context of the region. If efficacious, Comunică presents a scalable platform to provide support to gay and bisexual men living in Romania and similar high-stigma, low-resource countries. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03912753; https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT03912753. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): DERR1-10.2196/52853.
背景:世界卫生组织报告称,2014 年欧洲 80%的新增艾滋病毒诊断病例发生在中欧和东欧。罗马尼亚的艾滋病毒发病率、艾滋病患病率和相关死亡人数特别高。罗马尼亚艾滋病毒发病率在很大程度上归因于男同性恋和双性恋者之间的性接触。然而,罗马尼亚的恐同耻辱感是男同性恋和双性恋者感染艾滋病毒的一个风险因素。Comunică 干预旨在提供急需的艾滋病毒减少风险策略,它通过在一个移动平台上提供 8 个实时基于文本的咨询课程,向有感染艾滋病毒风险的男同性恋和双性恋者提供动机访谈和认知行为疗法技能。该干预措施基于信息动机行为和少数群体压力模型。有初步证据表明,Comunică 有望降低罗马尼亚男同性恋和双性恋者同时存在的性健康(例如,艾滋病毒传播风险行为)、行为(例如,大量饮酒)和心理健康(例如,抑郁)风险。
目的:本文介绍了一项随机对照试验的方案,旨在测试 Comunică 在全国性试验中的疗效。
方法:为了测试 Comunică 的疗效,305 名男同性恋和双性恋者被随机分配接受 Comunică 或内容匹配的教育注意力对照条件。对照条件包括 8 个时间匹配的教育模块,介绍男同性恋和双性恋者的身份发展、艾滋病毒传播和预防信息、艾滋病毒和性传播感染检测和治疗的重要性、大量饮酒及其与艾滋病毒传播风险行为的关系、性健康沟通、寻找社会支持和制定性健康目标。参与者在基线和 12 个月随访时接受快速艾滋病毒和梅毒检测以及 3 部位衣原体和淋病检测。结果在干预前(基线)和 4、8 和 12 个月随访时进行测量。
结果:该研究于 2018 年 9 月获得资助,数据收集于 2019 年 5 月开始。最后一次参与者随访于 2024 年 1 月进行。目前,数据分析员正在清理数据集,为数据分析做准备,数据分析计划于 2024 年 4 月开始。定期举行数据分析会议,以确定时间表并检查分析结果,因为分析工作正在逐步进行。完成后,将审查一系列手稿并确定优先级,然后团队将开始准备发表。
结论:这项研究是第一项测试干预措施疗效的研究,该干预措施有可能通过动机访谈支持和对该地区高度污名化背景的敏感性,同时支持中欧和东欧男同性恋和双性恋者的性健康、行为健康和心理健康。如果有效,Comunică 将为罗马尼亚和类似高污名化、低资源国家的男同性恋和双性恋者提供一个可扩展的支持平台。
试验注册:ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03912753;https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT03912753。
国际注册报告标识符(IRRID):DERR1-10.2196/52853。
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