Evidence and implication of interventions across various socioecological levels to address HIV testing uptake among men who have sex with men in the United States: A systematic review

Peer ambassador stories: formative qualitative research to enhance the reach of PrEP, HIV testing, and behavioral health treatments to LMSM in South Florida

Existing HIV prevention interventions, such as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), and behavioral health treatments inadequately reach Latino men who have sex with men (LMSM) in the US. This study involved formative research to inform the content, design, and implementation of a scalable, low resource implementation strategy - peer ambassador stories - stories from peers to normalize using PrEP, HIV testing, and behavioral health treatment. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 20 LMSM to elucidate their content, design, and implementation preferences for peer ambassador stories. Men were asked about story prompts, story contributor characteristics, story platform features, design preferences, and recommendations for enhancing the adoption and use of the peer ambassador technology platform among LMSM. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed via rapid qualitative analysis. Qualitative analyses identified 14 themes within 4 pre-specified domains. Collectively, the themes unified around the central concept that technology-delivered peer ambassador stories require a personalized, relational, culturally relevant touch to be acceptable and appropriate for LMSM. This study suggests that disseminating peer ambassador stories using electronic platforms and audio/video formats may enhance the reach of services and if they are personalized, relational, and culturally relevant. Findings have broad implications for informing other peer-based strategies to mitigate HIV disparities among LMSM.

Suboptimal Follow-Up on HIV Test Results among Young Men Who Have Sex with Men: A Community-Based Study in Two U.S. Cities

Frequent HIV testing and knowledge of HIV serostatus is the premise before timely access to HIV prevention and treatment services, but a portion of young men who have sex with men (YMSM) do not always follow up on their HIV test results after HIV testing, which is detrimental to the implementation of HIV prevention and care among this subgroup. The comprehensive evaluation of factors associated with inconsistent follow-up on HIV test results may inform relevant interventions to address this critical issue among YMSM. To this end, we conducted a cross-sectional study in Nashville, Tennessee and Buffalo, New York from May 2019 to May 2020 to assess demographic, behavioral, and psychosocial correlates of inconsistent follow-up on HIV test results among YMSM. Of the 347 participants, 27.1% (n = 94) reported inconsistent follow-up on their HIV test results. Multivariable logistic regression showed that inconsistent follow-up on HIV test results was positively associated with condomless receptive anal sex, group sex, recreational drug use before or during sex, internalized homophobia, and stress; while negatively associated with housing stability, social support, and general resilience. Future HIV prevention intervention efforts should target these modifiable determinants to enhance the follow-up on HIV test results among YMSM.