Applying an Evidence-Based Community Organizing Approach to Strengthen HIV Prevention for Cisgender Women in US South : Protocol for a Mixed Methods Study

©Anandi N Sheth, Dazon Dixon Diallo, Celeste Ellison, Deja L Er, Adaora Ntukogu, Kelli A Komro, Jessica M Sales. Originally published in JMIR Research Protocols (https://www.researchprotocols.org), 22.03.2024..

BACKGROUND: Most new HIV diagnoses among cisgender women in the United States occur in the South. HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), a cornerstone of the federal Ending the HIV Epidemic (EHE) initiative, remains underused by cisgender women who may benefit. Awareness and access to PrEP remain low among cisgender women. Moreover, improving PrEP reach among cisgender women requires effectively engaging communities in the development of appropriate and acceptable patient-centered PrEP care approaches to support uptake. In a community-clinic-academic collaboration, this protocol applies an evidence-based community organizing approach (COA) to increase PrEP awareness and reach among cisgender women in Atlanta.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to use and evaluate a COA for engaging community members across 4 Atlanta counties with high-priority EHE designation, to increase PrEP awareness, interest, and connection to PrEP care among cisgender women.

METHODS: The COA, consisting of 6 stages, will systematically develop the skills of community members to become leaders and advocates for HIV prevention inclusive of PrEP for cisgender women in their communities. We will use the evidence-based COA to develop and implement a PrEP-specific action plan to create broader community change by raising awareness and interest in PrEP, reducing stigma associated with HIV or PrEP, and connecting women to sexual health clinics providing PrEP services. In the first 4 stages, to prepare for and develop action plans, we will gather data from one-on-one interviews with up to 100 individuals across Atlanta to capture attitudes, motivations, and influences related to women's sexual health with a focus on HIV prevention and PrEP. Informed by the community interviews, we will revise a sexual health curriculum inclusive of PrEP and community-centered engagement. We will then recruit and train community action team members to develop action plans to implement the curriculum during community-located events. In the last 2 stages, we will implement and evaluate COA's effect on PrEP awareness, interest, HIV or PrEP stigma, and connection to PrEP care among cisgender women community members.

RESULTS: This project was funded by the National Institutes of Health and approved by the Emory University institutional review board in July 2021. Data collection began in December 2021 and is ongoing. COA stage 1 of the study is complete with 70 participants enrolled. Community events commenced in November 2023, and data collection will be completed by November 2025. Stage 1 qualitative data analysis is complete with results to be published in 2024. Full study results are anticipated to be reported in 2026.

CONCLUSIONS: Through a community-clinic-academic collaboration, this protocol proposes to mount a coordinated approach across diverse Atlanta counties to strengthen HIV prevention for cisgender women and to create a sustainable systems approach to move new sexual health innovations more quickly to cisgender women.

INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): DERR1-10.2196/56293.

Medienart:

E-Artikel

Erscheinungsjahr:

2024

Erschienen:

2024

Enthalten in:

Zur Gesamtaufnahme - volume:13

Enthalten in:

JMIR research protocols - 13(2024) vom: 22. März, Seite e56293

Sprache:

Englisch

Beteiligte Personen:

Sheth, Anandi N [VerfasserIn]
Dixon Diallo, Dazon [VerfasserIn]
Ellison, Celeste [VerfasserIn]
Er, Deja L [VerfasserIn]
Ntukogu, Adaora [VerfasserIn]
Komro, Kelli A [VerfasserIn]
Sales, Jessica M [VerfasserIn]

Links:

Volltext

Themen:

Awareness
Cisgender
Cisgender women
Community
Community action team
Community engagement
Community organizing approach
Community-based
Community-engaged approach
Ending the HIV Epidemic
Evidence-based
HIV
HIV epidemic
HIV prevention
Journal Article
Men who have sex with men
Participatory
PrEP
Pre-exposure prophylaxis
Prevention
United States

Anmerkungen:

Date Revised 08.04.2024

published: Electronic

Citation Status PubMed-not-MEDLINE

doi:

10.2196/56293

funding:

Förderinstitution / Projekttitel:

PPN (Katalog-ID):

NLM370070291