Developing concurrency messages for the black community in Seattle, Washington

Tecnologias educativas para prevenção do HIV em negros: revisão de escopo

RESUMO Objetivo: Mapear as tecnologias educativas implementadas para prevenção do HIV em negros. Método: Revisão de escopo, realizada conforme as recomendações do The Joanna Briggs Institute, nas bases de dados Medline/PubMed, Embase, LILACS, CINAHL, Scopus, Cochrane e PsycINFO, utilizando-se do instrumento Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR). Resultados: Encontraram-se 14 estudos publicados entre 1999 e 2020. Os principais impactos para saúde dos negros envolveram a redução das taxas de relações sexuais desprotegidas, o maior uso de preservativos, a diminuição de comportamentos de risco, a minimização do número de parceiros, a maior solicitação de testagens para HIV e o aumento do uso de Profilaxia Pré-exposição (PrEP). Conclusão: As tecnologias educativas mapeadas foram: workshops, cursos, mensagens, dramatização, vídeos, aplicativo, panfleto, campanhas de mídia e de rádio, grupos de Facebook, site, programas de computadores e softwares multimídia.

Educational technologies for HIV prevention in black people: scope review

OBJECTIVE

To map the educational technologies implemented for HIV prevention in black people.

METHOD

Scope review, performed according to the recommendations of The Joanna Briggs Institute, in Medline/PubMed, Embase, LILACS, CINAHL, Scopus, Cochrane and PsycINFO databases, using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta- Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR).

RESULTS

There were 14 studies published between 1999 and 2020. The main health impacts for black people involved a reduction in rates of unprotected sex, greater use of condoms, a decrease in risky behaviors, a minimization of the number of partners, a greater request for HIV testing and an increase in the use of Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP).

CONCLUSION

The educational technologies mapped were: workshops, courses, messages, dramatization, videos, application, pamphlet, media and radio campaigns, Facebook groups, website, computer programs and multimedia software.

A scoping review: The utility of participatory research approaches in psychology

Consistent with community psychology's focus on addressing societal problems by accurately and comprehensively capturing individuals' relationships in broader contexts, participatory research approaches aim to incorporate individuals' voices and knowledge into understanding, and responding to challenges and opportunities facing them and their communities. Although investigators in psychology have engaged in participatory research, overall, these approaches have been underutilized. The purpose of this review was to examine areas of research focus that have included participatory research methods and, in turn, highlight the strengths and ways that such methods could be better used by researchers. Nearly 750 articles about research with Indigenous Peoples, children/adolescents, forensic populations, people with HIV/AIDS, older adults, and in the area of industrial-organizational psychology were coded for their use of participatory research principles across all research stages (i.e., research design, participant recruitment and data collection, analysis and interpretation of results, and dissemination). Although we found few examples of studies that were fully committed to participatory approaches to research, and notable challenges with applying and reporting on this type of work, many investigators have developed creative ways to engage respectfully and reciprocally with participants. Based on our findings, recommendations and suggestions for researchers are discussed.

Crowdsourcing and community engagement: a qualitative analysis of the 2BeatHIV contest

Background: As HIV cure research advances, it is important to engage local communities. Crowdsourcing may be an effective, bottom-up approach. Crowdsourcing contests elicit public contributions to solve problems and celebrate finalists. We examine the development of a crowdsourcing contest to understand public perspectives about HIV cure research. Methods: We used flyers, emails, online advertisement and phone calls to recruit a convenience sample of community members to participate in focus-group discussions. Participants developed a contest name, logo and hashtag. Qualitative analysis identified emergent themes in the focus group transcripts. Results: Seventy-one people participated in four focus groups. Emergent themes for HIV cure engagement included: (1) emphasising collective approaches to HIV cure; (2) dispelling myths to spur discussion; (3) using HIV cure as motivation for participation; and (4) using creative community engagement. Conclusion: Crowdsourcing contests may be useful for engaging local communities, developing culturally tailored awareness campaign messaging, and encouraging the public to learn more about HIV cure research.

Concurrency and Other Sexual Risk Behaviors Among Black Young Adults in a Southeastern City

Black Americans continue to have higher rates of HIV disease than other races/ethnicities. Conventional individual-level risk behaviors do not fully account for these racial/ethnic disparities. Sexual concurrency may help explain them. Respondent-driven sampling (RDS) was used to enroll 508 sexually active 18- to 30-year-old Black men and women in Durham, North Carolina in a cross-sectional survey on HIV-related topics. Consistent condom use was low for all participants, especially with steady partners. Concurrent partnerships in the past 6 months were relatively common for both men (38%) and women (25%). In general, men involved in concurrent relationships engaged in more risk behaviors than other men (e.g., inconsistent condom use and alcohol and drug use). A majority of concurrent partnerships involved steady partners. HIV-prevention programs should address the risks of concurrency and factors that discourage condom use, especially with steady partners with whom condom use is particularly low.

A preliminary evaluation of a community-based campaign to increase awareness of concurrency and HIV transmission in African American and African-Born communities

We evaluate an innovative grassroots community-based campaign in Seattle, WA focused on educating African American and African-born communities about concurrent partnerships and HIV transmission. Respondents completed a short self-administered questionnaire on a handheld personal digital assistant to evaluate the reach, acceptability and preliminary efficacy of the campaign. Of those who remembered seeing the campaign materials (82 %), social networks were the most common source of exposure (80 %). Respondents rated campaign materials very visually attractive (86 %), very interesting (91 %), and very important for themselves (90 %) and their community (93 %). Respondents reported that the campaign increased their knowledge about concurrency (84 %), changed their attitudes about it (77 %), and 65 % said it was likely or very likely that they would change their behavior as a result. This inexpensive grassroots campaign demonstrated extensive reach in the local black community and was able to move beyond individual exposure and into social networks.

Reducing Concurrent Sexual Partnerships Among Blacks in the Rural Southeastern United States: Development of Narrative Messages for a Radio Campaign

In the United States, heterosexual transmission of HIV infection is dramatically higher among Blacks than among Whites. Overlapping (concurrent) sexual partnerships promote HIV transmission. The authors describe their process for developing a radio campaign (Escape the Web) to raise awareness among 18-34-year-old Black adults of the effect of concurrency on HIV transmission in the rural South. Radio is a powerful channel for the delivery of narrative-style health messages. Through six focus groups (n = 51) and 42 intercept interviews, the authors explored attitudes toward concurrency and solicited feedback on sample messages. Men were advised to (a) end concurrent partnerships and not to begin new ones; (b) use condoms consistently with all partners; and (c) tell others about the risks of concurrency and benefits of ending concurrent partnerships. The narrative portrayed risky behaviors that trigger initiation of casual partnerships. Women were advised to (a) end partnerships in which they are not their partner's only partner; (b) use condoms consistently with all partners; and (c) tell others about the risks of concurrency and benefits of ending concurrent partnerships. Messages for all advised better modeling for children.

Sexual Decision Making in the Absence of Choice: The African American Female Dating Experience

Although links between low mate availability and increased HIV and STI risk for African American women have been documented in the literature, we know little about the impact of limited mate choices on the quality of relationships between Black men and women and how these relationship dynamics impact risk for young Black women. We conducted a qualitative study with African American female young adults (N=12) to explore the perceived impact of structural forces on African American female young adults' dating and sexual behavior. Participants reported (1) perceptions of Black men as untrustworthy and manipulative, (2) the limited and often negative roles for Black men in the larger Black community, and (3) heterosexual relationships in the Black community as increasingly influenced by economics and commerce. Recommendations for HIV prevention interventions that include micro and macro level approaches are discussed.