141st APHA Annual Meeting

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284031
Correlates of sexual risk behavior with male and female partners among African American men who have sex with both men and women (AAMSM/W): Baseline findings from the bruthas project

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Emily Arnold, PhD , Department of Medicine, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
Don Operario, PhD , Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences, Brown University, Providence, RI
Carla Dillard Smith , Pangea, Oakland, CA
Stephanie Cornwell, MA , CAL-PEP, Oakland, CA
Susan Kegeles, PhD , Department of Medicine, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
The Bruthas Project Team
Background: African American men continue to be disproportionately impacted by HIV, primarily through sexual contact with other men. AAMSM/W may be difficult to recruit into HIV prevention services designed for gay-identified men. The Bruthas Project is an intervention developed for AAMSM/W through a community collaborative process and is now being tested using a randomized controlled trial (RCT).

Methods: From February 2011- December 2012, we recruited 227 AAMSM/W in the San Francisco Bay Area. A survey administered at baseline assessed: sexual risk behavior with male, female, transgender partners, substance use, homelessness, incarceration, and a number of psychosocial factors. Multivariate analysis was completed looking at risk factors for our primary outcomes, any unprotected anal intercourse with male/transgender partners (UAI) and any unprotected vaginal intercourse with female partners (UVI) in the past 3 months.

Results: We used multivariate logistic regression to identify risk factors for 3-month UAI and UVI. Independent correlates of 3-month UAI were having sex with a woman during the past 3 months, higher number of male sex partners during the past 3 months, low condom use self-efficacy, lifetime history of incarceration, and any STI diagnosis during the past year. Independent correlates of 3-month UVI were higher number of female sex partners during the past 3 months and low self-esteem.

Conclusions: Interventions that provide private, individualized sessions that address the complexities of the lives of AAMSM/W have potential to impact HIV transmission for this population. Interventions must consider unique risk factors for unprotected sex with male versus female partners.

Learning Areas:
Public health or related research
Social and behavioral sciences

Learning Objectives:
Compare factors related to HIV-related risk behavior and partner type among AAMSM/W. Identify strategies for tailoring HIV prevention interventions to be responsive to the differing contexts of risk depending on partner type for this population.

Keywords: Community-Based Partnership, HIV Interventions

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am the Principal Investigator of the Bruthas Project Randomized Controlled Trial study, and have been working with the Bruthas Project team to develop and now test the intervention for the past 6 years.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 5006.0: Barriers to HIV prevention