The objective of this project is to better understand how 12 community-based organizations (CBOs), funded under CDC’s program announcement 06-618, are implementing and adapting the Mpowerment Project (MP) for young men of color who have sex with other men and young transgendered people of color.
This project’s specific goals are to:
Review and summarize all available background information about the MP at these 12 CBOs (e.g., grantee original applications, progress reports, site visit r
The Balance Project is a randomized controlled trial that tests a counseling intervention to help HIV+ men and women achieve an active role in their health care. The intervention is designed to help individuals cope with the challenges of taking medications, deal with side effects, and maintain an active collaboration with their health care providers.
This multidisciplinary study includes epidemiological research on prevalence and incidence of HIV, chlamydia, gonorrhea, and human papillomavirus (HPV), as well as rates of drug use including amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) among young women in Phnom Penh, Cambodia working in the sex and entertainment service sectors and who have multiple sexual partners.
We sponsor four types of training:
1. An intensive eight-week course in designing and conducting AIDS prevention research In our prevention research course, trainees develop a study protocol for implementation in their home countries. Subsequently, we provide assistance to obtain funding to field these pilot studies, and provide continued technical assistance from a CAPS faculty mentor.
2.
Building on the results of three efficacious HIV prevention programs with those at high HIV risk (LIGHT, Adolescent LIGHT, & Street Smart), this study aims to examine the relative efficacy of LIGHT in an interpersonal or a computerized delivery format, in contrast to a standard care HIV prevention condition. The project has proceeded in two phases.
Structural Ecosystems Therapy (SET) is an intervention designed to mobilize participants’ families and other ecosystem members (such as service providers) to support and motivate behavior change. In this study, the SET intervention was adapted with the goal of reducing HIV transmission risk behavior and increasing medical adherence among HIV+ men being released from prison.
The goal of this project, which was originally conducted in collaboration with the Unity Fellowship Church Movement, was to determine what approaches to HIV prevention for young Black men who have sex with men could be implemented by faith-based organizations. We assessed the capacity, interest and attitudes of certain Black churches towards HIV prevention by conducting 22 semi-structured telephone interviews with representatives of select Black churches in California.
The Focus Project, funded by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine at the NIH, is a randomized controlled trial to test the efficacy of a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) intervention in reducing HIV treatment side effects and side effect-related distress. The intervention is a standardized series of eight weekly MBSR sessions, two to three hours long, held at the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine.
This study aims to meet the need for in-depth formative research to develop an evidence-based and theory-driven HIV prevention intervention with MSM in Nepal. The study will be conducted in collaboration with the Blue Diamond Society, the only CBO currently serving MSM in Nepal.
Since 2002, the Institute for Global Health (IGH) has helped CDC’s Global AIDS Program (GAP) to achieve its goals in GAP countries and regions. UCSF faculty and staff have provided technical assistance in several broad component areas including surveillance, monitoring and evaluation, technical and scientific writing, literature digests and reviews, and research design.
Street Smart (SS) is an effective HIV preventive intervention for homeless youth selected by the CDC as part of Replicating Effective Programs. However, substantial relapse diminishes the program’s effects over two years. This study examines a computerized strategy for maintaining the efficacy of the SS intervention for 400 homeless youth in Los Angles, CA.
The overarching goal of this program project (P01) is to evaluate novel and strategic interventions to reduce the burden of malaria and improve HIV outcomes among children and pregnant women, the populations most affected by the overlap of these diseases. We hypothesize that treatment with HIV protease inhibitors (PIs) will lower the incidence of malaria and consequent morbidity in HIV+ children and pregnant women compared to those treated with standard antiretroviral treatment.
The goal of this study is to develop a preliminary understanding of the social and cultural context in which HIV serodiscordant couples in Kenya are making the decision to become pregnant.
The specific aims of this study are:
To explore the motivations for conception, understanding the risk of HIV transmission, and the decisionmaking process of serodiscordant couples desiring pregnancy.
To assess the acceptability of:
Limiting unprotected intercourse to the fertile
The Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Modernization Act (a reauthorization of the original Ryan White CARE Act) changed the formulas used to distribute funding to states and cities in the US. The case counts used to allocate the awards shifted from using only AIDS cases to using both HIV (non-AIDS) and AIDS cases.
In this project we will develop, pilot and evaluate a curriculum for improving HIV research counseling and testing (HRCT) skills among staff working in international prevention and treatment clinical trials.
This study has three components:
Describe the strategies HIV rapid test counselors use to manage multiple roles during the test session.
Develop a computer assisted survey that is self-administered by the client before they see the counselor (PalmPal).
Enhance counselor training and supervision using time charts.
Substance use among youth and young adults continues to pose a variety of public health challenges. Young people who use opiates (heroin) and methamphetamine are more likely to have high risk sexual and injection practices, as well as more likely to be HIV+. Drug use among youth may be associated with a variety of problems including family trauma, academic difficulties, mental and physical health problems, sexual abuse, incarceration, poor peer relationships and violence.
This pilot study will determine the acceptability and translatability of PalmPal, an innovative structural intervention we designed to improve the process of HIV test counseling. PalmPal is a ten minute risk assessment questionnaire that is self administered by the client using a handheld computer just prior to the test session. The proposed study will recruit a representative sample of 40 test clients from three test clinics to conduct six focus groups.
The HIV and malaria epidemics inflict the greatest harm in sub-Saharan Africa and overlap significantly. We have recently identified an interaction between acute malaria and false positive HIV EIA test results. This project will investigate this interaction in three of the most common rapid EIA HIV tests used in sub-Saharan Africa among a cohort of 450 HIV-uninfected children aged 2-17 years being followed longitudinally for malaria in Kampala, Uganda as part of a larger, parent study.
