Perceptions of a community-based HIV/STI testing program among Black gay, bisexual, and other MSM in Baltimore: a qualitative analysis.

Black gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (GBM) are disproportionately affected by HIV and STIs. Safe Spaces 4 Sexual Health (SS4SH), a community-informed, status-neutral HIV/STI testing intervention combines online outreach via geo-social networking apps and social media with mobile van testing. During 2018-2019, we recruited 25 participants for interviews about their perceptions of SS4SH compared to clinic-based testing.

Improving Access to Care Through Youth-Focused Virtual Sexual Health Navigation.

Purpose: Gender and sexually diverse adolescents and young adults in Baltimore City, Maryland, are disproportionately impacted by HIV. The Virtual and Online Integrated Sexual Health Services for Youth program is a health navigation program which combines virtual sexual health service delivery and health navigation to link youth at risk for HIV acquisition to HIV testing/prevention and sexual healthcare services.

Methods: Youth between 13 and 26 years old and residing in the Baltimore area were eligible to participate in the program.

Factors Associated with the Awareness of and Willingness to Use HIV Pre-exposure Prophylaxis Among Gay, Bisexual, and Other Men Who Have Sex with Men, Baltimore, MD, 2017-2019.

Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is an effective tool in protecting persons from acquiring HIV infection through sex or injection drug use. However, awareness and willingness to use PrEP among Black gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (BMSM) remain suboptimal compared to White MSM (WMSM) in the United States. Our aims were to (1) assess the factors associated with PrEP awareness and willingness to use PrEP among MSM and (2) compare the PrEP perceptions among BMSM versus non-Black MSM.

HIV Testing Deserts and Vulnerability Among Adolescents and Young Adults in Tampa Bay, Florida.

Purpose: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) burden among Florida adolescents and young adults (AYA, aged 13-24 years), particularly in Tampa Bay, is among the highest in the nation. We sought to determine the association between zip code-level test site accessibility and AYA HIV burden, compare this association with adult (aged 25-44 years) HIV burden, and identify local AYA HIV testing deserts. We further aimed to identify the association between test site accessibility and population-level markers of social disadvantage.

Advancing Adolescent and Young Adult HIV Prevention and Care and Treatment Through Use of Multi-level Theories and Frameworks: A Scoping Review and Adapted HIV Ecological Framework.

While multi-level theories and frameworks have become a cornerstone in broader efforts to address HIV inequities, little is known regarding their application in adolescent and young adult (AYA) HIV research. To address this gap, we conducted a scoping review to assess the use and application of multi-level theories and frameworks in AYA HIV prevention and care and treatment empirical research. We systematically searched five databases for articles published between 2010 and May 2020, screened abstracts, and reviewed eligible full-text articles for inclusion.

Child Health Needs and the Adolescent Medicine Workforce Supply: 2020-2040.

Adolescent medicine (AM) subspecialists provide primary, subspecialty, and consultative care to adolescents and young adults (AYAs). Given insufficient numbers of AM subspecialists to care for all AYAs, the workforce supports AYAs health care capacity through education, research, advocacy, and the development of policies and programs sensitive to their unique needs. A modeling project funded by the American Board of Pediatrics Foundation was developed to forecast the pediatric subspecialty workforce in the United States from 2020 to 2040 on the basis of current trends in each subspecialty.

Achieving Health Equity for Sexual and Gender-Diverse Youth.

Compared to their heterosexual and cisgender peers, sexual and gender diverse (SGD) youth, especially those from minoritized racial/ethnic groups, experience significant disparities in health, health care, and social conditions that can threaten their health and well-being. This article describes the disparities impacting SGD youth, their differential exposure to the stigma and discrimination that foster these disparities, and the protective factors that can mitigate or disrupt the impact of these exposures. On the final point, the article specifically focuses on pediatric providers and inclusive, affirming, medical homes as critical protective factors for SGD youth and their families.

Civic Engagement to Empower Young People to Impact Health and Well-Being.

Civic engagement is positively associated with important health and developmental benefits for participating adolescents and young adults. As illustrated by youth political participation, social activism, and rallies for racial justice during the COVID-19 pandemic, youth civic engagement is often inspired by and responsive to problems that are salient to a young person's lived experiences. Providers can empower youth and encourage civic engagement by eliciting issues that are important to them and directing them to community resources and opportunities for civic participation that can help them address these issues.

Utilizing Community Based Participatory Research Methods in Black/African American and Hispanic/Latinx Communities in the US: The CDC Minority HIV Research Initiative (MARI-Round 4).

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Minority HIV Research Initiative (MARI) funded 8 investigators in 2016 to develop HIV prevention and treatment interventions in highly affected communities. We describe MARI studies who used community-based participatory research methods to inform the development of interventions in Black/African American and Hispanic/Latinx communities focused on sexual minority men (SMM) or heterosexual populations. Each study implemented best practice strategies for engaging with communities, informing recruitment strategies, navigating through the impacts of COVID-19, and disseminating findings.

Correction: Desires for Individual- and Interpersonal-Level Patient Portal Use for HIV Prevention Among Urban Sexual Minority Men: Cross-sectional Study.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.2196/43550.].

Desires for Individual- and Interpersonal-Level Patient Portal Use for HIV Prevention Among Urban Sexual Minority Men: Cross-sectional Study.

Background: Gay, bisexual, and other sexual minority men have expressed the acceptability of patient portals as tools for supporting HIV prevention behaviors, including facilitating disclosure of HIV and other sexually transmitted infection (STI/HIV) laboratory test results to sex partners. However, these studies, in which Black or African American sexual minority men were undersampled, failed to determine the relationship of reported history of discussing HIV results with sex partners and anticipated willingness to disclose web-based STI/HIV test results using a patient portal.

Objective: Among a sample of predominantly Black sexual minority men, this study aimed to (1) determine preferences for patient portal use for HIV prevention and (2) test the associations between reported history of discussing HIV results and anticipated willingness to disclose web-based STI/HIV test results with most recent main and nonmain partners using patient portals.

Safe Spaces 4 Sexual Health: A Status-Neutral, Mobile Van, HIV/STI Testing Intervention Using Online Outreach to Reach MSM at High Risk for HIV Acquisition or Transmission.

Background: Black men who have sex with men (MSM) carry the greatest burden of new HIV diagnoses in the United States. Ending the HIV epidemic requires strategic, culturally specific approaches to target factors contributing to persistent HIV disparities.

Setting: Safe Spaces 4 Sexual Health (SS4SH), a community-informed HIV/sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing strategy combining mobile van testing with online outreach, was implemented over a 14-month period from 2018 to 2019 in Baltimore, MD.

Dyadic Intervention for Sexually Transmitted Infection Prevention in Urban Adolescents and Young Adults (The SEXPERIENCE Study): Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: Adolescents and young adults (AYA) aged younger than 25 years have the highest rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in the United States. Current STI prevention strategies for AYA rely primarily on individual approaches, leaving sexual partners with significant unmet sexual and reproductive health care and health education needs. Dyadic interventions may hold promise for harnessing the power of communal coping within relationship dynamics to enhance sexual decision making, communication, and behavior changes that reduce the future risk of STIs.

Evaluating for health equity among a cluster of health departments implementing PrEP services.

African American/Black and Hispanic/Latino sexual and gender minority populations are disproportionately affected by HIV in the United States and continue to experience HIV-related disparities. CDC funded project PrIDE to support 12 health departments (HD) with implementing pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) strategies for men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender persons, with a health-equity focus established by HDs. Each HD conducted mixed-methods evaluation of at least one local strategy.

#ProjectPresence: Highlighting black LGBTQ persons and communities to reduce stigma: A program evaluation.

Etiologies of HIV disparities are multifaceted; anti-LGBTQ stigma and social marginalization are contributory factors. A city health department developed a program, #ProjectPresence, exhibiting professional photos of Black LGBTQ persons in public spaces. An academic partner explored the relationship of the program to visibility, anti-LGBTQ stigma and social marginalization of Black LGBTQ persons, i.

Storytelling to improve healthcare worker understanding, beliefs, and practices related to LGBTQ + patients: A program evaluation.

LGBTQ + persons experience significant health inequities and medical distrust resulting from anti-LGBTQ + bias or cultural incompetence from health care workers (HCW). This program evaluation examined whether storytelling events where LGBTQ + persons shared personal and patient experiences changed HCW understanding, beliefs, and practices related to LGBTQ + patients. Five storytelling events, held biannually in Baltimore, Maryland from 2016 to 2018, were evaluated using post-event surveys, written reflections/notes during the event, and a survey of HCW in a citywide care collaborative focused on HIV prevention and treatment for LGBTQ + persons that did and did not attend a storytelling event.

Young black MSM's exposures to and discussions about PrEP while navigating geosocial networking apps.

Young Black gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (YBMSM) carry a disproportionate HIV burden perpetuated by exposure to sexual networks with higher untreated HIV prevalence and incidence. In Baltimore, these sexual networks include high utilization of geosocial networking apps (GSN-apps). Our prior work suggests these apps can be important access points for targeted interventions like PrEP.

Who Is Not Linking to HIV Care in Tennessee - the Benefits of an Intersectional Approach.

Introduction: Guided by an intersectional approach, we assessed the association between social categories (individual and combined) on time to linkage to HIV care in Tennessee.

Methods: Tennessee residents diagnosed with HIV from 2012-2016 were included in the analysis (n=3750). Linkage was defined by the first CD4 or HIV RNA test date after HIV diagnosis.

Health care access, health care utilisation and sexual orientation disclosure among Black sexual minority men in the Deep South.

Unlabelled: Background Black gay, bisexual, and other sexual minority men (BSMM) account for 39.1% of new HIV infections among men who have sex with men and 78.9% of newly diagnosed cases among Black men.