A protocol for a randomized controlled trial of couples motivational interviewing to reduce drug use and HIV transmission risk among male couples in the US: the Couples Health Project.

Background: To reduce substance use and sexual HIV transmission risk among sexual minority men (SMM) requires the development of interventions tailored for those in relationships. In the past 5 years, there have been considerable advances in the development of motivational nterviewing (MI) with couples. The Couples Health Project (CHP) is the first multi-session risk reduction protocol built on this formative research.

Motivational Enhancement System for Adherence for Adolescents and Young Adults Newly Recommended to Start Antiretroviral Therapy.

Background: Adolescents and young adults (AYAs) (age 13-24 years) accounted for 20% of HIV diagnoses in the United States and 6 dependent areas in 2020. Optimal treatment adherence during adolescence and young adulthood decreases the pool of infectious individuals during the risky sexual activity commonly reported among AYAs living with HIV.

Methods: Adolescents and young adults newly recommended to start antiretroviral therapy (ART) were recruited, nationally, from 7 clinical sites.

Optimizing Individual HIV Testing and Counseling for Emerging Adult Sexual Minority Men (Aged 18 to 24) in Relationships: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial of Adjunct Communication Components.

The majority of new HIV infections in the US occur among sexual minority men (SMM) with older adolescent and emerging adult SMM at the highest risk. Those in relationships face unique HIV prevention challenges. Existing sexual HIV transmission risk interventions for male couples often encounter implementation challenges and engaging younger SMM early in relationships may be particularly difficult.

Regulatory Issues in Electronic Health Records for Adolescent HIV Research: Strategies and Lessons Learned.

Background: Electronic health records (EHRs) are a cost-effective approach to provide the necessary foundations for clinical trial research. The ability to use EHRs in real-world clinical settings allows for pragmatic approaches to intervention studies with the emerging adult HIV population within these settings; however, the regulatory components related to the use of EHR data in multisite clinical trials poses unique challenges that researchers may find themselves unprepared to address, which may result in delays in study implementation and adversely impact study timelines, and risk noncompliance with established guidance.

Objective: As part of the larger Adolescent Trials Network (ATN) for HIV/AIDS Interventions Protocol 162b (ATN 162b) study that evaluated clinical-level outcomes of an intervention including HIV treatment and pre-exposure prophylaxis services to improve retention within the emerging adult HIV population, the objective of this study is to highlight the regulatory process and challenges in the implementation of a multisite pragmatic trial using EHRs to assist future researchers conducting similar studies in navigating the often time-consuming regulatory process and ensure compliance with adherence to study timelines and compliance with institutional and sponsor guidelines.

Adapting a Motivational Interviewing Intervention to Improve HIV Prevention Among Young, Black, Sexual Minority Men in Alabama: Protocol for the Development of the Kings Digital Health Intervention.

Background: African American or Black young men who have sex with men (BYMSM) are at a disproportionate risk for contracting HIV and have high rates of undiagnosed, and therefore untreated, HIV infection. In the southern United States, BYMSM face region-specific hurdles to HIV prevention, such as limited access to care and high levels of racism and intersectional stigma, necessitating HIV testing and pre-exposure prophylaxis interventions that address sociocultural and structural barriers while motivating BYMSM to engage in prevention. Brothers Saving Brothers (BSB) is a motivational interviewing behavioral intervention that successfully and simultaneously increased community-based HIV testing and prevention counseling and education among BYMSM in the midwestern United States.

Executive functions mediate the association between alcohol use and declarative memory symptoms in daily life.

Alcohol use is associated with memory problems in young adults with HIV, but the cognitive mechanisms of that association are not known. Sixty adults (aged 19-24 years) living with HIV were administered the Alcohol, Smoking, and Substance Involvement Screening Test to assess alcohol use, Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function for self-reported executive functions, and the Prospective and Retrospective Memory Questionnaire (PRMQ) for dailiy memory functioning. Controlling for mood, self-reported executive functions fully mediated the relationship between alcohol use and memory (indirect effect =.

Cannabis and complementary/alternative self-treatment approaches for symptom management among African American persons living with HIV.

Persons living with HIV (PLWH) experience symptoms from disease progression and side effects of antiretroviral treatment. This study examines in African American PLWH ( = 259) commonly-endorsed symptoms, types and self-rated efficacy of therapies for symptom alleviation. Analyses were stratified by gender ( = 178 males,  = 81 females) and cannabis use typology: non-users ( = 90), mostly recreational use ( = 46), mixed recreational/therapeutic use ( = 51), or mostly therapeutic use ( = 72).

Utilizing Alternative Testing Technology for Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) in the COVID era.

Purpose Of Review: With the onset of the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, in-person human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) testing is no longer easily accessible. Therefore, alternative testing technologies must be considered and implemented on a large scale to continue prevention efforts. This review seeks to describe the benefits of utilizing at-home HIV testing technologies, traditionally deemed an alternative form of testing.

"Do I Have a Memory Problem? I Can't Recall": An Evaluation of Measurement Invariance in Subjective Reporting of Memory Symptoms among Persons with and without Objective HIV-Associated Memory Impairment.

Objective: Memory symptoms and objective impairment are common in HIV disease and are associated with disability. A paradoxical issue is that objective episodic memory failures can interfere with accurate recall of memory symptoms. The present study assessed whether responses on a self-report scale of memory symptoms demonstrate measurement invariance in persons with and without objective HIV-associated memory impairment.

Student characteristics and substance use as predictors of self-reported HIV testing: the youth risk behavior survey (YRBS) 2013-2015.

Many adolescents and young adults (AYAs; ages 13-24) are unaware of their HIV status despite participating in behavior that places them at risk for contracting HIV. This study examined possible predictors of self-reported HIV testing for high school students (grades 9-12) who completed the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS). Three sex-stratified, stepwise multivariable logistic models were used to estimate odds of having received a HIV test being associated with student characteristics and substance use.

Visualisation of future task performance improves naturalistic prospective memory for some younger adults living with HIV disease.

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) disease is commonly associated with deficits in prospective memory (PM), which increase the risk of suboptimal health behaviours, like medication non-adherence. This study examined the potential benefits of a brief future visualisation exercise during the encoding stage of a naturalistic PM task in 60 young adults (aged 19-24 years) with HIV disease. Participants were administered a brief clinical neuropsychological assessment, which included a standardised performance-based measure of time- and event-based PM.

Allowing brief delays in responding improves event-based prospective memory for young adults living with HIV disease.

Event-based prospective memory (PM) tasks require individuals to remember to perform an action when they encounter a specific cue in the environment, and they have clear relevance for daily functioning for individuals with HIV. In many everyday tasks, not only must the individual maintain the intent to perform the PM task, but the PM task response also competes with the alternative and more habitual task response. The current study examined whether event-based PM can be improved by slowing down the pace of the task environment.

Task importance affects event-based prospective memory performance in adults with HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders and HIV-infected young adults with problematic substance use.

Two experiments were conducted to examine the effects of task importance on event-based prospective memory (PM) in separate samples of adults with HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND) and HIV-infected young adults with substance use disorders (SUD). All participants completed three conditions of an ongoing lexical decision task: (1) without PM task requirements; (2) with PM task requirements that emphasized the importance of the ongoing task; and (3) with PM task requirements that emphasized the importance of the PM task. In both experiments, all HIV+ groups showed the expected increase in response costs to the ongoing task when the PM task's importance was emphasized.

Experiences of community and parental violence among HIV-positive young racial/ethnic minority men who have sex with men.

Adolescents and young adults (ages 13-24) in the USA are frequently exposed to violence in their community and home. While studies have examined the prevalence and impact of violence exposure among adolescents, there is a lack of data focusing specifically on adolescent men of color who have sex with men. Eight demonstration sites funded through a Special Projects of National Significance (SPNS) Initiative recruited 363 HIV-positive racial/ethnic minority young men who have sex with men (YMSM) for a longitudinal study between 2006 and 2009.

The initial feasibility of a computer-based motivational intervention for adherence for youth newly recommended to start antiretroviral treatment.

Young people represent the largest number of new HIV infections, thus youth living with HIV (YLH) are likely to be the largest group to initiate antiretroviral treatment (ART). Adherence patterns for behaviorally infected YLH are not adequate to effectively manage the disease; therefore, novel interventions are needed to improve medication adherence. The purpose of the current study, which will precede a randomized controlled trial, was to assess the initial feasibility of an individually tailored computer-based two-session interactive motivational interviewing (MI) intervention for YLH newly recommended to start ART.

Patterns of HIV disclosure and condom use among HIV-infected young racial/ethnic minority men who have sex with men.

Recent findings highlight the continued rise in cases of HIV infection among racial/ethnic minority young men who have sex with men (YMSM). In adults, disclosure of HIV status has been associated with decreased sexual risk behaviors but this has not been explored among YMSM. In this study of 362 HIV-infected racial/ethnic minority YMSM, rates of disclosure were high, with almost all disclosing their status to at least one person at baseline.

HIV testing behaviors of a cohort of HIV-positive racial/ethnic minority YMSM.

The HIV epidemic in the United States has disproportionately affected young racial/ethnic minority men who have sex with men (YMSM). However, HIV testing rates among young men of color remain low. Within this sample of racial/ethnic minority YMSM (n = 363), the first HIV test was a median of 2 years after men who have sex with men sexual debut.

Age of MSM sexual debut and risk factors: results from a multisite study of racial/ethnic minority YMSM living with HIV.

The average reported age of sexual debut for youth in the United States is 14.4 years, with approximately 7% reporting their sexual debut prior to age 13. While the research literature on sexual debut for youth addresses gender and ethnic differences (with males and African-American youth experiencing earlier sexual debut), there is limited data regarding factors associated with sexual debut for young men who have sex with men (YMSM).

Sexual behaviors of racial/ethnic minority young men who have sex with men.

We assessed changes in sexual behaviors from baseline to 12-month follow-up among a multisite cohort of HIV-positive racial/ethnic minority young men who have sex with men enrolled in an outreach, linkage, and retention study. In the 3 months prior to their baseline interview, more than three-quarters of participants (78.5%) reported sex with at least one man (mean: 2.

Predictors of condom use in a multisite study of high-risk youth living with HIV.

Young people between the ages of 13 to 24 are at persistent risk for HIV infection in the United States (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2006). Young adulthood is a period characterized by experimentation, including engagement in risky behaviors (e.g.

Using motivational interviewing in HIV field outreach with young African American men who have sex with men: a randomized clinical trial.

Objectives: We sought to determine whether field outreach with motivational interviewing, as compared with traditional field outreach, leads to increases in HIV counseling and testing and rates of return for test results among young African American men who have sex with men (MSM).

Methods: In a randomized, 2-group, repeated-measures design, 96 young African American MSM completed a motivational interviewing-based field outreach session and 92 young African American MSM completed a traditional field outreach session. The percentages of participants agreeing to traditional HIV counseling and testing (an oral swab of the cheek) and returning for test results were the primary outcome measures.