Increasing rural substance-using African American women's access to evidenced-based HIV intervention

Mississippi State University, Mississippi State MS

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

? DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): HIV/AIDS continues to be a major public health threat particularly for rural substance-using AA women. Condom use is an effective method of preventing HIV transmission and a number of interventions have been developed to increase condom use among high-risk populations. Such interventions have been shown to increase condom use intentions and behaviors, but they have limited reach, thus using time and resources without notable large scale impacts on HIV efforts. The proposed project involves assessing the feasibility and acceptability of recruiting and implementing an evidence-based single session HIV prevention intervention using social media tools. Aims 1 and 2 involve examining the feasibility and acceptability of social media (i.e., Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram) for recruitment, enrollment, and implementation of VOICES online for substance-using heterosexual African American women residing in rural Mississippi. Aim 3 will assess the effectiveness of the online VOICES intervention by comparing it to the traditional VOICES at 3 month post- intervention follow-up on intentions to use condoms, number of unprotected sexual acts, program costs per enrolled participant and geographical reach. Taken together the results of the proposed project aims could demonstrate the use of social media as a wide reaching, cost-effective method to implement evidence-based, group-level HIV interventions for individuals with limited access to prevention services. Increased scalability and reach of HIV programing could aid in preventing new HIV infections, particularly in populations of increased risk.